‘Need to win against these sides’: Why Barnsley draw hurt Portsmouth so much

John Mousinho were undone by an 89th-minute header from Bobby Thomas from a long throw which led to two points being dropped in the 1-1 draw.

Pompey moved up a place in League One to 10th, but the gap to the play-offs remains nine points with the draw against the sixth placed Tykes.

With Pompey in the middle of a trio of games against sides chasing promotion, Jacobs admitted the result hurt.

He said: ‘When you are trying to get into the play-offs these are the games you need to win against sides in and around those positions.

‘These are the games when you are 1-0 up you need to win to close the gap on those teams.

‘There’s Peterborough, this one and then Plymouth next week.

‘We have to pick up points against sides that up there, because that’s how you make up the ground.

‘So that is the most frustrating thing.

‘I think with the squad we’ve got and picking up a couple of decent results we should be thinking about the play-offs still.

‘I think we’ve shown we’re a good team and we’ve added quality in Paddy and Di’Shon.

‘We have to keep producing the performances and see where that takes us.’

It proved a high-tempo first 45 minutes at Fratton Park, before Colby Bishop put Pompey in front four minutes after the restart.

The Blues got on top at that point, but failed to add to their lead before being pegged back late on.

Jacobs added: ‘We were in a good position in the game.

‘The first half was scrappy, but the second we took the game to them.

‘It was a great finish from Colby, but we’ve just been undone by a set-piece at the end.

‘Sometimes those throws are head to defend when they come in fast and flat like that.

‘It was quite a scrappy game, but you can see they are a good side and why they are up there.

‘It’s one of those days where we feel like we should have won the game.

‘It’s a bit flat (the dressing room) and we feel a bit deflated.

‘Once we’re 1-0 up and playing well it’s a bit of a sucker-punch to concede like that.’