First half was ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ for John Mousinho before Pompey launch recovery
Posted Sunday, October 29, 2023 by PA
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho felt he saw the worst and the best from his side as they recovered from a terrible start to fight back and secure a hard-earned 3-2 win at struggling Reading.
Protests from the home fans – with around 2,000 supporters also staging a pre-match protest march against Chinese owner Dai Yongge – saw the game paused twice after tennis balls were thrown onto the pitch before the Royals took a shock 2-0 lead through quick goals from Lewis Wing and Charlie Savage.
Pompey, though, fought their way back on to level terms before the break through on-loan Chelsea midfielder Tino Anjorin and Colby Bishop.
Terry Devlin then slotted in the winner early in the second start to extend Pompey’s unbeaten start.
“I was really disappointed by the way that we played for 25 to 30 minutes,” Mousinho said.
“But even at 2-0 down, I was still quite positive of getting back into the game. We then proved that with 15 minutes-worth of very good football.
“The (tennis ball) protests impacted the flow of the game, but Reading had to deal with that as well. They just got on with it.
“For us, it was really Jekyll and Hyde in that first half. To start off, with what we have put together collectively, we were an unrecognisable team.
“But once we had taken that kick in the face (of Reading’s goals), we were excellent.”
After the final whistle, Reading substitute Amadou Mbengue received a red card following a skirmish between both sets of players.
Reading slipped to the bottom of the table as their winless run stretched to seven matches.
“We were just not able to keep the lead,” said Reading manager Ruben Selles said.
“And at 2-1, we had an amazing opportunity to make it 3-1, but that has been happening so often to us lately.
“We don’t put the ball in the net and the next one is coming against us.
“The performance was there, we were competitive against one of the best teams in the league, but we need to be more robust and more ruthless.”
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