Evans' relief after making up for Portsmouth penalty miss in win over Oxford United

The stand-in skipper had the chance to put the Blues to break the deadlock in the 24th minute after Oli Hawkins had been brought down by Jamie Hanson inside the box.

Evans stepped up but saw his spot-kick thwarted by U's keeper Jonathan Mitchell.

However, it was the former Fleetwood Town talent who eventually opened the scoring three minutes after half-time, rifling home a left-footed finish.

And Evans was delighted to rectify his earlier error in Pompey's stylish win.

He said: 'I don't think I struck it quiet well, but maybe I could have put it in the corner more.

'Maybe the keeper did his homework because I do tend to go that way.

'I was gutted but I knew we were playing well and needed to keep going.

'I was pleased because I wanted to cancel out the penalty miss '“ I can only apologise for that!

'You've got to try to keep your head up and thankfully it didn't matter in the end.'