Portsmouth boss rues failure to beat Bristol Rovers, despite needing last-gasp goal to avoid defeat

Fratton Park was braced for an opening-day defeat as Joey Barton’s men entered extra-time leading 1-0 through Luke Thomas’ first-half goal.

However, substitute Kusini Yengi marked his first appearance in England by heading home Joe Rafferty’s right-wing cross.

Arriving two minutes into time added-on and in front of the Fratton End, it was a dramatic end to a match Mousinho felt his side deserved to have won.

In a strong second half inspired by half-time substitute Christian Saydee, the Blues also struck a post through Connor Ogilvie’s long-range strike.

And, ultimately, Pompey had to settle for a point in the curtain-raiser to the 2023-24 campaign.

Mousinho told The News: ‘We’re disappointed not to take three points because, on reflection, I thought it was a game we could have won.

‘We made some really poor decisions, especially in the first half, the goal was error after error, we gave the ball away twice and let a runner run off us.

‘We are always going to make mistakes, always going to give the ball away, the key is to try not to compound an error with an error – and that was really disappointing.

‘I think, ultimately, we’ll see it as two points dropped, but five minutes before the end of the game, if you had offered me a point, I would have taken it.

‘Having said that, it was about right in terms of the result. I’ve had a couple of stats quoted to me in terms of our shots and possession, but it’s meaningless – we need more shots on target and more to go into the back of the net.

‘We definitely need to work on that. We got into some really good areas and didn't quite take advantage of it, particularly with our crossing, which was quite poor.

‘Ironically the goal actually came from our best cross of the game and arriving at the back post, which goes to show if you do get it right we can have success from that.

‘Bristol Rovers are a good side, they set up well, they were difficult to play against and we’e disappointed to come away with a point, but there’s a huge amount to learn.’

Pompey finished the match with strikers Saydee, Yengi and Colby Bishop all on the pitch in pursuit of an equaliser.

Yet Mousinho admits, as the game wore on, he began to wonder whether that leveller would ever arrive.

He added: ‘I felt like we had so much momentum coming out in the second half and Christian made a huge difference with the way he played.

‘For 50 minutes we were really on top and it ebbed after that, we had spells of possession and spells of pressure, but it felt like it might be one of those days.

‘The lads kept at it and the reason we made the substitutions was to try to get the three centre-forwards on the pitch and be as attacking as possible – thankfully it paid off.’