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Pompey continued to suffer
on the road as they fell to a 3-0 Championship defeat against Blackburn at
Ewood Park. But after Makhtar Gueye had come off the bench to break the deadlock, they will point to a big moment that could have changed the course of the game. Denied what appeared to be a clear penalty, the appeals had barely died down when Callum Brittain doubled Rovers’ lead, while Andi Weimann soon added another Rovers goal. John Mousinho made a solitary change from the side that were narrowly beaten at Sunderland in the last league contest. Rob Atkinson replaced Ryley Towler to partner skipper Marlon Pack – who missed the cup tie at Wycombe through suspension – in the centre of defence. The hosts looked to probe in the early stages, although were initially unable to get through and test Nicolas Schmid. There were some promising moments from Pompey at the other end, although again, nothing to overly concern their opponents. It was Blackburn who were first to threaten to 14 minutes after Freddie Potts played a loose pass in the centre. That was seized upon by Weimann, but rather than burst forward, he tried an ambitious lob that dipped over. And when the Blues struggled to get a corner clear, the ball was sent back in by Tyrhys Dolan and nodded narrowly over by former Fratton loanee Dom Hyam. The pressure was increasing as the half progressed and Rovers were perhaps guilty of not making the most of their opportunities. They might have lived to regret that as Pompey finished strongly – and they should have gone ahead on 41 minutes. A Potts free-kick was nodded back across goal by Pack and then down by Paddy Lane, with Colby Bishop’s close-range attempt rattling the crossbar. Callum Lang’s surge towards the net was then well dealt with by Owen Beck, while Josh Murphy fired over after cutting in from the right. Half Time: Blackburn 0 Pompey 0 Lane went down with an injury just before the break and did not emerge for the second half, with Isaac Hayden replacing him to make his debut. Blackburn had an early opportunity when Brittain raced in from the right, but he could not beat Schmid with an angled attempt There was soon a chance at the other end after Lang was brought down, but Pack could not wriggle free of his marker to make a proper connection with Potts’ free-kick and the ball looped over. But Blackburn made a couple of changes and one of the newcomers gave them the lead just past the hour mark. Brittain found space on the right and swung in a deep cross that a leaping Gueye managed to squeeze home from an acute angle. Mousinho responded with a double switch on 66 minutes, as Atkinson and Andre Dozzell made way for Towler and Christian Saydee. And the Blues soon went from almost levelling to finding themselves further behind following a moment of huge controversy. Lang was completely taken out by goalkeeper Aynsley Pears in the box, but the ball still went into the mixer and an awkward Bishop header was cleared from the line by Batth. Pompey appealed for a penalty that was somehow not given and the hosts broke straight up the other end, with Brittain lashing a shot into the net. Salt was quickly rubbed further into the wound, as Schmid kept out Gueye’s attempt, but could not quite manage to do the same for Weimann’s follow-up. Lang and Murphy were replaced by Terry Devlin and Matt Ritchie for the closing stages, perhaps with one eye on the weekend. And the Blues saw out the closing stages to ensure there was no further damage before making the long trip home. |
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