'It kind of killed us': Frustrated Portsmouth winger pinpoints what went wrong after season's best against QPR

Harvey Blair hailed Pompey’s best 45 minutes of the season - and rued the second half ‘change’ which saw them collect just the point.

John Mousinho’s men have slipped back into the Championship relegation zone following a 1-1 draw against QPR in an archetypal game of two goals.

They deservedly led at the interval through Terry Devlin’s third goal of the season, capping an outstanding first half at Fratton Park in which they dominated.

However, levels dipped considerably after the break and the visitors levelled through Jimmy Dunne’s header from a right-wing corner.

And Blair, who had been handed his first start of the season in place of the injured Josh Murphy, afterwards spoke of the highs and lows of a Pompey point.

He told The News: ‘I would say that was our best 45 minutes of the season, we dominated the ball, literally controlled it. They didn’t really have a sniff of the ball in the first half.

‘So obviously when we were coming into the second half 1-0 up through Tes’ goal, I thought we had to do more of the same.

‘It seemed like it changed a bit in the second half, though, we weren’t really trying to play out from the back as much, it was more of a long-ball game, which kind of killed us in certain areas.

‘Leading 1-0 at half-time, QPR were always going to come at us all guns blazing, but we were told to keep our head and keep playing how we did in the first half. Then it was a few changes in formation for them and how they pressed - and we didn’t seem to get going.

‘There’s obviously still some positives from the second half, but we just need to build on from what we did in the first half.’

With Murphy out for up to two weeks with the hamstring injury collected at Derby, Blair could now be handed an extended run in the starting XI.

He was extremely bright for most of the first half, setting the tone for Pompey’s excellent start to the match as they dominated.

Nonetheless, Mousinho’s men couldn’t maintain that after the break and Blair was withdrawn on 59 minutes for Adrian Segecic.

He added: ‘The lads are frustrated because of the draw, but there are a lot of positives to take from the game, especially in the first half.

‘The boys were buzzing about the first-half performance because we dominated the ball, we weren't just kicking the ball long, we were finding me, Langy and Chappers in the key areas, everything was going well.

‘We’ve just got to build on it and we can’t lose our heads and just think “Oh it’s a draw”, we have to build on that.’

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