'I'm a fair man': Joey Barton's Bristol Rovers stand-in gives verdict on Portsmouth draw with 'league favourites'

Mangan was flattened by the manner of the Aussie's goal coming so late to deny his side an opening-day win at Fratton Park.

But the Scouser admitted a draw was probably the right outcome in the final reckoning, as the Gas were forced to soak up second-half pressure.

Mangan was standing in for boss Joey Barton, who was serving a three-game stadium ban after admitting to improper behaviour at Sheffield Wednesday last season.

The 36-year-old saw a lot to be upbeat in his side's performance, though could see Pompey's display warranted a return.

He said: 'I'm a fair man. There was an awful lot of pressure coming our way and a draw is probably a fair result. Albeit, we've kept them out until the 92nd, 93rd minute and on another day we could've got all three points.

'There's loads of positives to come here to Fratton Park and play, at times, the way we did play. The lads should take a lot of confidence from that.

'At a ground like this, you're going to have to soak pressure up.

'Now, what happens then is you start hitting teams on the counter and we have to be deadly on the counter.

'We let them off on the counter we need to be better at that. That's something we need to work on. But, to come to Fratton Park, one of the league favourites to go up, perform the way we have, defend the way we have, the lads can be very proud of themselves.

'There's so many positives but just conceding at the end, the way it is in football, you just feel like you're devastated which the lads are. I'll have to see the goal back and see where we can improve.'

Luke Thomas' first-half goal was a poor one to concede from Pompey's point of view, with Gavin Whyte losing the ball and then Marlon Pack failing to track Jevani Brown's run.

Mangan liked what he saw from his side in terms of their counter-attacking and feels that will be a feature of their play this season.

He added: 'It was a fantastic goal and we had opportunities on the counter.

'We have to be better in so many areas. I'm not on a downer, though, this will be a massive point at the end of the season

'It's the best way to play and it will excite the fans. It will get our attacking players in one v one situations. It's a work in progress and we're devastated, but a draw was the right result.'READ MORE: Portsmouth owner Michael Eisner makes transfer revelation over key signing.