Fleetwood boss: We dominated Portsmouth

The Fleetwood Town boss insisted the Blues were forced on to their back foot by his men in the first half, before ultimately falling to a 1-0 loss.

Grayson was a frustrated as he his team came up short, despite racking up a host of first-half chances which should have seen them comfortably in front at the break.

The former Preston boss delivered a verdict few who were present at Highbury Stadium would’ve argued with as his men fail to a narrow reverse.

Grayson told the official Fleetwood site: ‘I’m hugely disappointed to lose on the opening game of the season like the players and I think the supporters will be because, in the first half, I thought we were the dominant team.

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‘We created lots of good chances. We just weren’t ruthless enough to get a couple of goals advantage that we thoroughly deserved.

‘When the game is tight, there’s always the opportunity for the opposition to get back into it and unfortunately, we’ve come on the wrong end of the result where the performance warranted a more positive one.

‘We wanted to start the game brightly and we did that, we had Portsmouth on the back foot and the front three worked really well.

‘The midfield players were getting on the ball, winning second phases and we really limited them to few opportunities.’

Fleetwood created four or five opportunities of note in the first half with new loan signing from West Brom, Callum Morton, causing problems before Pompey limited the home side after the break.

Grayson added: ‘I thought he (Callum Morton) did really well. He’s got plenty of energy about him, good quality, and showed glimpses of why we signed him.

‘He’s settled in really well into the group and we’ve got good competition for places and as you saw from the bench today, it’s probably the strongest bench we’ve had in a long time since I’ve been at the football club.

‘I think there is a real tight group here, they all get on well with each other, they all have worked extremely hard in pre-season, and they all know their jobs and responsibilities that they need on the pitch, and we saw that again today.

‘I thought we were very organised and well-structured but just didn’t show the ruthlessness that we needed in and around the 18-yard box which is the big difference between winning and losing games.’

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