Danny Cowley admits striking concerns as Portsmouth feel effects of small squad during Plymouth set-back

The Blues suffered a 1-0 defeat at Plymouth this evening, ending a run of eight League One matches without defeat.

Although the margin was slender in a tight game, crucially Pompey failed to test Pilgrims keeper Michael Cooper, whose night was far too comfortable.

It’s a source of immense frustration for Cowley, who cursed his team’s lack of composure as Ryan Hardie’s 64th-minute strike settled matters.

With Tyler Walker unable to start through an ankle injury, Marcus Harness suspended and Michael Jacobs injured, Cowley insisted he was forced to retain the same front three at Home Park.

And subsequently George Hirst, Ronan Curtis and Aiden O’Brien, plus substitute Walker, failed to find that equaliser.

Cowley told The News: ‘I thought it was a very good game, a very tight game between two good League One teams. Credit to Plymouth for getting on the right side of the small detail.

‘For us, it’s incredibly disappointing, we played really well up until the final action, dominated possession, lots of crosses in the box, lots of touches in the box and 11 shots.

‘But the final action lacked that quality and, ultimately, that’s the small margins.

‘We had some really good chances, I don’t think we’re going to create better chances away from home against a top team in League One like we did tonight.

‘We have a front three that have had to go again.

‘Obviously we haven’t Marcus Harness or Michael Jacobs and it’s tough at the top end of the pitch and you need to be at your sharpest when you’re playing the amount of games we are.

‘Football is a privilege, I would rather look at things that we can control and, although we are a small squad, we can’t control tiredness.

‘What we can control is execution and the footwork and balance which allows you to get the right connection. 11 shots and none on target is the reason we came up short.’

Cowley believes the failure by referee Sam Purkiss to award a second-half penalty was the game’s turning point.

His complaint centred on Hirst being knocked to the floor after dispossessing keeper Cooper when the scoreline was goalless.

The Blues head coach added: ‘It was a clear penalty the referees missed, which is an absolutely game changer for us.

‘I’ve had the opportunity to watch it back, George presses the goalie, just watch the trajectory of the ball, it carries on travelling towards Plymouth’s goal and the goalkeeper kicks George.

‘You only have to look at how George falls to see that there’s obviously contact, you’ve only got to watch the ball roll to know there’s no contact with the ball.

‘The referee has a big decision to make and chose the easy decision rather than the right one – and that has hurt us.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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