Fans vow Pompey will come back stronger despite a last-minute blow

The club miss out on a trip to Wembley Stadium after losing 1-0 against Plymouth.

As they walked out of Home Park in Plymouth after the match, supporters spoke of their devastation.

Pompey went into the match at Plymouth with the score at 2-2 following last Thursday’s first-leg match.

But despite a close game in which both teams had limited chances, it was in stoppage time that Plymouth scored.

Dan Green, from Fratton, said it was difficult to describe how he felt.

‘I cannot really put into words what it means to lose that game,’ said the 27-year-old.

‘It is gutting, especially to lose in the way we did.

‘I really thought we could do it but now we need to think ahead to next season.

‘We need to get that automatic promotion spot and not mess around with the play-offs.’

Pompey suffered early injures with two players having to be substituted.

Despite dominating in possession the away side failed to take advantage.

Speaking after the game, fans said Plymouth were deserving winners.

Sue Blackthorn, from Southsea, went to the match with her husband Ray.

She said: ‘We didn’t take our chances and because of that we lost.

‘It was awful conceding in the final minutes but it sums up our season.

‘Now we need to look ahead to next season and fight for automatic promotion.’

Ray added: ‘I feel pretty terrible but that is because I thought we had a real chance of going on to win.

‘The game wasn’t the best but we only needed one goal and after the first leg I thought we could do it.’

Fellow Pompey fan David Wallace, from Southsea, said: ‘That result has been the story of our season.

‘We have been letting in last-minute goals.

‘I hope we can get automatic promotion next season but we need to sort out letting in those goals at the end of the game.’

Around 1,700 Pompey fans travelled west to watch the game.

Friends Steven McIlwain and Kevin Louis were among those.

Steven, from Littlehampton, said: ‘We got kicked out of the game in the first half and we never got over two key players going off injured.

‘In the end, the pressure got to us in the last 10 minutes and we came unstuck.

‘For next season we have to win the league. There are two ways to go up and we don’t want the play-offs.

‘This is the only league we haven’t won yet.’

Kevin, from Basingstoke, added: ‘We have to win the league next season.

‘We trust in Paul Cook.’

Father-of-two Jake Wellham went along to the game with his son Issac.

The 11-year-old said: ‘It is upsetting. It would have been good to go to Wembley.

Jake added: ‘Having travelled all this way, a win would have been fantastic.

‘It is gutting because I don’t think Plymouth were necessarily the better side.

‘We just lost our heads in the final minutes and that lost us the game.

‘I hope we can do better next season and I think we have the players, the manager and the fans to do it.’