Portsmouth player ratings vs Oxford United: Callum Lang immense, 7/10 team-mate can do better
Portsmouth got their Championship season off to a flyer with a 1-0 win against Oxford United.
Adrian Segecic opened the scoring in a first half where Portsmouth were largely dominant.
Oxford put up a stronger fight in the second half, but the Portsmouth defence held firm to seal an opening-day victory in a game that key man Josh Murphy was absent from.
John Mousinho will be pleased with the performance of his squad and absolutely thrilled with the result.
Callum Lang immense on right wing for Portsmouth
Portsmouth fans were worried about the recent rumours that Preston were interested in signing Callum Lang.
He showed exactly how important he is to Portsmouth at the Kassam Stadium.
Every time Lang received the ball on the right wing, it looked like Oxford were in danger. He got the better of his marker time and again, especially in the first half.
Lang was withdrawn on 79 minutes and that was around the time that Oxford began to throw the kitchen sink at Portsmouth. Pompey barely had a meaningful attack after he was withdrawn.
Lang has been shifted out onto the right wing in favour of Segecic, who has taken his place behind the striker, but the former Wigan man has shown he can do a job for Pompey there as well.
Bianchini missed fantastic chances on his Portsmouth debut
Florian Bianchini made his Portsmouth debut from the start, as Josh Murphy was mysteriously absent on the left wing.
Most of Pompey’s best chances fell to him in the first half. He fluffed a header at the back post after a great cross from Lang.
He then hit a soft effort straight at Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming when he had time and space in the penalty area.
Despite these misses, Bianchini was bright before being replaced by Yang Min-hyeok on 66 minutes.
Portsmouth player ratings vs Oxford
Schmid – 7
Williams – 7
Poole – 8
Shaughnessy – 8
Ogilvie – 7
Lang – 8
Swift – 7
Dozzell – 7
Segecic – 8
Bianchini – 7
Bishop – 7
Subs:
Yang – 6
Devlin – 6
Swanson – 6
Waddingham – 6
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