Heartbroken Sean Raggett finds Portsmouth pride amid controversial defeat at Oxford United

Battling Blues had been reduced to 10 men following Joe Morrell’s 16th-minute dismissal at Oxford United.

Yet they were poised for an improbable victory until Cameron Brannagan’s 82nd-minute leveller.

There was further agony in the sixth minute of time added on, when substitute Nathan Holland’s stunning strike stole the points at the death for the hosts, who claimed a 3-2 triumph.

Nonetheless, led by Raggett, it was a gutsy defensive display from Danny Cowley’s side, warmly recognised by those of Pompey persuasion present.

The 28-year-old told The News: ‘Oxford are a good footballing side, they keep the ball, so we had to get in at times and be resolute and compact, which I thought we did well.

‘We’ve got some good characters in the group and it’s a great set of lads. I would expect nothing less, we showed a lot of character.

‘We were all disappointed, we thought we had done enough to get something. It was a really big effort, there were some good gutsy performances out there.

‘Defeat always hurts, yet that would have been an unbelievable result for us when you look back at the game.

‘I am proud of the group, it was real backs against the wall stuff, especially considering how the last few weeks have gone for us where we hadn't got a win.

‘It would have been easy for us to go under in that game – and, to a man, nobody did.

‘We know each other in the changing room, we know we’ve got a good group of lads which will work hard for each – and that’s what we showed.’

Before Morrell’s departure, the recalled Michael Jacobs had cancelled out Luke McNally’s seventh-minute opener.

Then, on 51 minutes, Ronan Curtis converted Jacobs’ pass to hand the visitors a shock lead.

However, Cowley’s troops were undone by two sublime strikes from outside the box.

Raggett added: Sometimes you have to give up the long-range efforts when you are down to 10 men and Brannagan has hit it, it’s a great finish to be fair.

‘We had to try to stay focused and combat them and unfortunately then conceded another right at the end.

‘It’s a lot harder for them to score from out there than it would be if we were pushing men out so they then slip one in behind us.

‘Fair play to Oxford, but disappointment for us.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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