Portsmouth striker John Marquis shoulders responsibility for Rochdale draw in heartfelt Twitter message to fans

But in a heartfelt message to fans on Twitter, the forward insisted he’s confident he can provide the goals that will turn results around for the Blues.

Marquis was guilty of squandering three key second-half opportunities at the Crown Oil Arena – misses that contributed to Pompey recording a second successive goalless draw in League One.

However, he was not the only one culpable for another frustrating performance, which sees the Blues sit 17th in the table.

The visitors’ forward play in general often let them down, particularly in the first half, with signs of improvement evident as the game reached its latter stages.

It was not enough, though, for Pompey to find a way past Dale keeper Gavin Bazunu, who tipped a close-range Marquis header over the bar as the away side attempted to grab a win at the death.

That was one of three big opportunities missed by the striker, who was Pompey’s joint-top scorer last season alongside Ronan Curtis with 14 goals.

The former Doncaster man, who scored in the Blues’ opening game of the season at Stevenage, acknowledged those wasted chances were key.

But in an attempt to lift spirits among the fans, he added he and his team-mates can do better – with fans hopefully back soon to cheer them on.

Marquis posted on Twitter: ‘Disappointed with yesterday’s result & after starting slowly we should have won the game after a decent second half performance.

‘I take responsibility for this with the chances I missed, but I know if we create them for me on a regular basis I will start taking them again.

‘Another clean sheet is a positive to take as a team, but we know we can do better than we are showing.

‘We stick together & move forward starting at home to Wigan next weekend.

‘Can’t wait to hopefully start seeing the fans slowly allowed back into stadiums.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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