Ferguson: We deserved no more than a point

Doncaster got a draw but their boss admitted they were outplayed. Picture: Joe Pepler

And the Rovers boss acknowledged his side were second best to Kenny Jackett’s side after their early flourish in the 2-2 draw at Fratton Park.

Doncaster gave Pompey plenty of early problems and took a fourth-minute lead through James Coppinger.

But once Jackett’s men levelled in the 19th minute they took the ascendancy and dominated territory.

Ferguson told www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk: ‘Do I think we deserved to win the game? No.

‘We didn’t deserve to win the game on the performance but we were resilient.

‘It was a strange sort of game.

‘Any time you come to Portsmouth, it’s always tough. There’s no two ways about it.

‘If you can manage to come away without getting beat, you’re always thinking it’s not a bad result.’

It was only after Pompey went down to 10 men, after Stephen Henderson was forced off with five minutes left, Doncaster came on strong.

Ferguson was pleased with the manner in which his team stood up to the pressure Pompey put on them.

He said: ‘The way the game went, the first 20 minutes we were absolutely outstanding.

‘It was fantastic the way we passed the ball and moved it. Copps got the early goal and we were totally dominant.

‘But from a set piece one of my players loses his man and that changed the game.

‘After that we couldn’t get a foothold in the game, I’ve got to be honest.

‘They were dominant, we couldn’t get out, they put cross after cross into the box.

‘To be fair we were resilient and we defended better and John gets us back in the lead.

‘We just couldn’t find a way of playing like we did in the first 20 minutes because we couldn’t get control of the game. We changed formations three times to try and do something.’