Mousinho mission on the brink as Portsmouth stagger to draw – 3 key points v Derby
Portsmouth played out a thrilling spectacle with Derby County at Fratton Park on Saturday, in a Championship showdown which finished with a share of the spoils.
In a game which had almost everything, Rob Atkinson scored both goals for Pompey on his return, and also added an own goal which helped Derby to their share of the match after Jerry Yates had opened the scoring.
Pompey never led in PO4 on the day, but passed up an early chance to do so when Colby Bishop‘s penalty was kept out by Jacob Zetterstrom inside seven minutes.
The 2-2 draw means the two sides stay three points apart in the Championship with four games to play, as the battle to stay in the division anxiously rolls on.
Atkinson steals the show – at both ends
Portsmouth fans were over the moon when Atkinson made an unexpected return to the line-up at Fratton Park. What no one was expecting was for him to find the net no fewer than three times in 20 minutes.
The Blues have missed the towering centre-half, who has thoroughly impressed when fit since his loan move from Bristol City.
And that pre-match joy was later relief when he equalised with a key header from Josh Murphy’s delivery from the left-hand side, immediately cancelling out Yates’ opener.
However, inexplicably, four minutes later, his flailing foot diverted a cross from the left home for Derby to tilt the contest back in the visitors’ favour.
Atkinson was attempting to block the cross when it looped despairingly beyond Nicolas Schmid and it looked to have given Derby the crucial season-saving intervention they needed at Pompey’s expense.
The defender was not done attacking just yet, though, as he once again headed a vital leveller at the Fratton End to potentially save Portsmouth’s season. Never fall in love with a loan player…
Yates beats Bishop in the striker battle
Yates and Bishop are very comparable strikers of a similar profile, both of whom it has become evident outperforming the lower reaches of the EFL.
While both belong in the Championship, it only went right for one today – and it wasn’t the Pompey frontman.
Yates opened the scoring crucially for John Eustace’s side shortly before Atkinson’s equaliser, and of course, the centre-half then intervened in Derby’s favour a short while later.
Before that decisive moment, the Rams striker missed a sitter with a close-range header, but got away with it while Bishop saw his early penalty thwarted by Zetterstrom.
Had that gone in after seven minutes, it could have set the tone for a much different game – but only hindsight provides that insight.
| Portsmouth – final four | Date |
| Norwich (A) | 18 April |
| Watford (H) | 21 April |
| Sheffield Wed (A) | 26 April |
| Hull (H) | 3 May |
Mousinho under massive pressure in his approach
Mousinho appeared quietly reliant on home form this season for Portsmouth – and that certainly has been the case over the majority of the second half of the campaign.
However, for a Pompey side who were once 10 points clear of the drop zone to now be where they are is bordering on disaster unless they can accumulate the required number of points – whatever that may be.
Mousinho made no fewer than five changes for the clash, and while it was a risk, the combative encounter saw some players justify their place in the side while others were quiet.
But if you’re going to take absolutely nothing from every away game – however fine the margins are – then the home wins have to continue to flow. Luckily, the second Atkinson equaliser prevented the outlook from becoming much, much worse.
Mousinho is now under huge pressure for his future based on how Portsmouth fares in the final four matches of the season.
While he performed terrifically to take Pompey up in the first place, to get relegated from last month’s position would be utterly unjustifiable. Hopefully we can look back on that draw as the result which instead made survival happen.