'Poor' - Oxford United boss considered taking drastic action at half-time during defeat to Portsmouth

The Blues ran out 2-0 winners at the Kassam Stadium thanks to second-half goals from Andre Dozzell and Mark O'Mahony. Pompey had gone 12 matches without a win on their travels but they followed up their win against Cardiff City in midweek with a battling performance in Oxfordshire.

Neither side could find a breakthrough during the first half and the match was stopped for more than 30 minutes because of a medical emergency in the crowd. As the players who emerged for the second half, Pompey made a bright start. The home team failed to clear their lines and Dozzell was on hand to score with a tap-in finish inside the first two minutes.

Nicolas Schmid preserved the away side's lead as he denied Przemyslaw Placheta whilst Matt Phillips failed to score with a good-headed opportunity. Pompey made the most of Oxford's inability to find an equaliser as Terry Devlin's clearance landed in the path of O'Mahony who ran through on goal and showed his composure to slot the ball past the goalkeeper.

Oxford hadn't lost a home match under Rowett since his appointment in December. The former Birmingham City manager believed that his side did enough to get something out of the game given the chances they created in the second period but in the end, were left up empty-handed as Pompey claimed a crucial away win.

Gary Rowett on Pompey’s game plan

Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Rowett said: ‘They did what they did, which was kick the left back up and go really long with the goalkeeper to try and create a game of seconds and a little bit of a fight.

‘We conceded a very poor goal from a set piece with bodies in the box, and we don’t deal with it, and you end up 1-0 down.

‘We had three absolutely clear-cut chances where we should score all three of them, let alone one of them, and we don’t.

‘We chased the game at the end, and we obviously left ourselves open, but again it was a poor goal.

‘It was a disappointing performance overall, but I think we still did more than enough to get something out of the game, but you’ve got to go and finish things off.’

Oxford United rue profligacy

With the score goalless at half-time, Rowett considered making a raft of changes to his front line. In the first half, Oxford had three goal attempts but none of them landed on target with three shots blocked and an expected goals (xG) of 0.17.

Neither side had any big chances in the first period but Pompey had five shots and were able to get at least one shot away against goalkeeper Jamie Cumming. The home boss decided against making any substitutions at the break but Greg Leigh did replace Sam Long during stoppage time.

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Rowett said: 'I said that at half-time. I could’ve taken all the front four off in some ways because we didn’t create enough.

'It’s not just the four. You can’t start dissecting the game and saying it’s about the defenders keeping clean sheets and the forwards scoring.

'You have to work hard as a team and be accountable as a team, but certainly when you get into those areas, someone has to produce something.

'There was one where Stan Mills flashed a ball across the box and the space was there, and everyone was pulling back for a nice goal.

'You don’t score nice goals all the time in the Championship. You have to throw yourself in there.

'There were some areas of the pitch where we certainly need to work hard and be a little bit braver, and throw a few more bodies in the box to score the goal.'

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