Gary Rowett has cause for complaint after incident in Oxford loss vs Portsmouth – Keith Hackett
Portsmouth fans have cause for celebration after seeing their side win 1-0 away at Oxford in the opening game of the new Championship season.
Adrian Segecic hit the winner after 38 minutes on his league debut to ensure Pompey took home all three points.
It was all that Pompey deserved at that point, as they had enjoyed the majority of the early chances, with Florian Bianchini missed the best opportunities.
Oxford may feel that they were wrongly denied a chance to get back into the game when Stanley Mills went down under a challenge from Callum Lang just before half-time.
However, the home side’s penalty appeals were waved away.
Pompey News presents the exclusive opinion of former Premier League and FIFA-listed referee Keith Hackett.
Hackett believes Oxford have fair reason to complain about penalty decision
Pompey manager John Mousinho will be thrilled to kick off the season with a clean sheet and an away win, particularly as his side only managed three wins on the road last season.
Funnily enough, the only clean sheet they managed on their travels in 2024-25 was against Oxford when they won 2-0.
Read more: Segecic already make his point – Three lessons learned in Portsmouth win vs Oxford
Still, former Premier League referee Keith Hackett believes Oxford should have been awarded a penalty for Lang’s challenge in the first half of this match.
He said: “This is a careless challenge by the defender, who is beaten for speed by the attacker.
“It is a foul and should have resulted in a penalty kick. Oxford have a cause for complaint.”
Portsmouth played better football and deserved win against Oxford
John Mousinho has insisted that he’d be happy simply by remaining in the Championship this season.
Pompey boss Mousinho has claimed that his goal is to reach 50 points as quickly as possible, and then potentially see what the team can do from there.
Portsmouth were without their star man Josh Murphy against Oxford, but they thoroughly outplayed their opponents for the first hour and played the better football throughout the game.
| Oxford | Portsmouth | |
| Goals | 0 | 1 |
| Shots on goal | 18 | 9 |
| Possession | 49 | 51 |
Oxford huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser, but most of their attacks came from long balls or throw-ins into their target men. Regan Poole and Conor Shaughnessy expertly dealt with most of these.
For most of the game, it was Oxford who played like a relegation-threatened side while Pompey were calm and composed on the ball.
The U’s had more shots at goal, but Pompey crafted the clearer chances overall. All things considered, the best side won the game.
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