|
Josh Murphy scored his first
goal for the club as Pompey fought from behind to collect a Championship
point at Hull. They were poor before the break and fell behind to João Pedro’s early strike, with the visitors looking more than comfortable. But it was a resurgent Blues side that emerged for the second half, with Murphy soon levelling and the Tigers put under plenty more pressure. John Mousinho made three changes from the side beaten by Sheffield Wednesday on home soil eight days earlier. Kusini Yengi was handed a first start of the season, while there were also spots for Matt Ritchie and a fit-again Nicolas Schmid. Mark O’Mahony, Christian Saydee and Jordan Archer were the men to make way, with the trio dropping to the bench. Both sides enjoyed spells of possession in the contest’s opening stages, although neither made much of it. That was until the 11th minute, when Mohamed Belloumi cut inside from the right and delivered a low cross that was turned home by Pedro. It might have got worse moments later, but Nicolas Schmid did well to keep out Xavier Simons’ close-range effort. Pompey thought they should have been given a chance to level when Callum Lang appeared to be tripped in the box by Simons, only for his appeals to be waved away by referee Anthony Backhouse. The lively Lang then took advantage of a sloppy touch on 28 minutes to steal possession and hit a low shot that Ivor Pandur did well to turn around the post. It was soon Schmid’s turn to come to the rescue, preventing Gustavo Puerta from slipping the ball inside his near post from an incisive Abu Kamara pass. The hosts did not really look like adding to their lead during the remainder of the first half – but nor did it seem as though they would relinquish it. Pompey struggled to keep hold of the ball as the interval approached and were grateful for an opportunity to regroup. Half Time: Hull 0 Pompey 0 The visitors certainly needed a massive reaction following the restart – and it arrived after just 19 seconds. Lang was the architect, bamboozling Cody Drameh on the right and sending in a cross that Hull were unable to clear. MURPHY got to the ball and hit a shot that took a huge deflection to deceive Pandur, almost seeming to enter the net in slow motion. Pompey were swarming all over their opponents and looking to build more momentum, with the Tigers now the side who could not keep hold of the ball. And there was controversy when Ritchie stole possession and Freddie Potts burst forward before releasing Yengi. Charlie Hughes went down as he chased the striker and appeared to send him off balance, but again penalty appeals were waved away. Mousinho freshened things up with a double switch on 67 minutes, as Yengi and Terry Devlin made way for O’Mahony and Jordan Williams. Sammy Silvera and Owen Moxon also came on for Ritchie and Andre Dozzell as the visitors continued to look the more dangerous side in the second half. Their chances did dry up as the final whistle drew nearer, but Pompey never really looked in any danger of conceding at the other end. And they came so close to snatching a stoppage-time winner after Murphy raced clear and was denied by Pandur. The loose ball fell kindly for Lang, with Hull’s keeper recovering superbly to turn the follow-up effort against the crossbar. |
||