Danny Cowley's honest admission about crucial Portsmouth weakness - but remains proud of Derby point

The Blues recorded a fifth successive League One draw at Fratton Park as the televised clash between the promotion hopefuls finished goalless.

It wasn’t your archetypal stalemate, with winger Owen Dale comfortably the Blues’ outstanding player, yet it’s now September 3 since Pompey’s last home league win.

Certainly it’s a cause for concern for a side undefeated at Fratton for nine-and-a-half months in all competitions.

Against the Rams, Jay Mingi’s stoppage-time attempt was their only on-target effort.

But Cowley was pleased overall with a performance and point against a side breathing down their necks in the League One table.

He told The News: ‘I thought it was a really competitive League One fixture against two good teams, Derby have some wonderful players, players of Championship and even Premier League experience.

‘We equipped ourselves really well and were in the ascendancy for large periods of the game, we were able to dominate possession.

‘It’s fair to be critical of us in terms of a little lack of quality in our end product and, as a consequence, we didn’t quite create the chances or work their goalkeeper as well as we would have liked.

‘We might have come up a little short in quality, but I was really proud of the effort and attitude and desire of the group.

‘Derby are a good team, some of our previous games we have drawn ones we should have won. We did enough to beat Fleetwood and Shrewsbury, while against Plymouth we were the really dominant team for 70-odd minutes.

‘We are a group who will keep working hard and keep fighting. We have to live with a little bit of a lack of quality, but we can't live without the attitude and desire, so we’ve got those things.

‘We know they are really committed and dedicated and we will keep working in training to add that bit of quality that hopefully will turn some of those draws into wins.’

That’s now 21 matches in all competitions that the Blues are unbeaten for at Fratton Park.

On the flipside, they haven’t won at home in the league for two-and-a-half months – a 2-1 win over Peterborough.

Cowley added: ‘It was a good performance, if people are going to criticise I will be disappointed.

‘We are a little bit short of quality, I understand that, but if they are criticising us it’s probably because of some of the games previously that we’ve drawn that we should have won.

‘You have got to remember, Derby’s budget is twice ours, let’s keep it real. We have to be fair to everybody when we are analysing these games.’