‘Knows what he’s doing’: Sky Sports pundit and former Portsmouth title winner gives clear verdict on Southampton incident which incensed John Mousinho
Pompey and Southampton played out a goalless draw in Sunday’s south-coast derby.
Former Pompey midfielder Tim Sherwood believes Tom Fellows ‘knew exactly what he was trying to do’ when he appeared to push Connor Ogilvie into Nicolas Schmid.
And the Sky Sports pundit has given his verdict over the Blues’ south-coast derby draw against Southampton.
However, replays appeared to show the Saints winger nudging Ogilvie into the onrushing Schmid, with the incident leaving John Mousinho incensed after the game.
It forced the Pompey duo to be withdrawn through injury during the contest, with the full-back sustaining a significant neck injury as well as a bruise to the head, while the Austrian stopper was taken off due to a suspected fractured hand.
And although Sherwood, who won the Division One title with the Blues in 2003 under Harry Redknapp, admitted Fellows’ push didn’t look bad, the ex-Pompey midfielder made it clear the Saints forward knew what he was doing.
Tim Sherwood on Tom Fellows incident v Pompey
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: ‘It (the push) didn’t look bad. Obviously it’s ended up terrible for Pompey and the two players involved. But Tom knows what he’s doing there, he’s just easing Connor into the goalkeeper.
‘Obviously you don’t want to hurt anyone, you’re just hoping the ball might just drop for him and he can roll it into the empty net. It’s not turned out that way and it’s been quite bad for the two Portsmouth players, with one of them going to hospital.
‘It looks like a fracture (for Nicolas Schmid) he (John Mousinho) said was a little bit of a neck injury for Connor Ogilvie, which is a real shame. He had a big egg and a cut on the top of his head.
‘Tom was trying to be clever, he was trying to ease them together.
‘I don’t think it’s a horrendous push but he knew exactly what he was trying to do but he was just hoping that the ball might just bounce for him to roll into the empty net to give his side the lead.’
Former Pompey midfielder on south-coast derby draw
Pompey came away from the first south-coast derby in 13 years the more positive out of the two sides, with Mousinho’s men on top for the majority of the contest.
And Sherwood believes the Blues impressed and could’ve secured victory at St Mary’s, although insisted his former side would’ve been happy with a point.
‘You have to give Portsmouth credit. I thought the two midfield players (John Swift and (Andre Dozzell were brilliant in the first half, they really controlled the game.
‘Regan Poole and Conor Shaughnessy were outstanding when they (Southampton) threw something at them in the second period, they headed everything out of the box. They couldn’t be fazed.
‘(Josh) Murphy is always going to be a threat on the left-hand side. I think they’ll be a little disappointed they didn’t have more support going forward, they could’ve done a little bit more perhaps.
‘But, the later it was going on they were probably thinking it was a good point away from home against a team who must be one of the favourites to get promoted in Southampton. They’ll take the point and will go home happy.’