Ryley Towler's Portsmouth disappointment after battling point at play-off chasing Derby

The Blues were leading 1-0 through Colby Bishop’s first-half goal before James Collins earned a draw in the 71st minute after coming off the bench.

John Mousinho’s men had to dig deep and fight hard for spells, particularly during a tough opening 20 minutes when the hosts struck the post and Marlon Park cleared off the line.

Yet Bishop headed home on 24 minutes to open the scoring completely against the run of play, sparking a sustained period of encouraging Pompey play.

And, ultimately, the central defender was disappointed not to leave Pride Park with all three points against the play-off contenders.

Towler told The News: ‘We’re disappointed not to win, even at tough places like Derby, but we’ll take the point in the end.

‘It was definitely tough at the start. For 10-15 minutes there were loads of corners, we were a bit too deep and had to settle it down.

‘But you just have to try to see it through. Every team can have a spell, theirs was right at the start.

‘After that we did well, we showed a bit of character to get back into the game and go 1-0 up, and we had a few more chances after that.

‘Football can change, Derby had loads of opportunities but we have to see that bit out and knew we’d get a spell – and we did in the second bit of that first half.

‘After that we played some really nice football, started playing higher up, got out more, and probably could have got a couple more goals.

‘Goals change games and we scored our goal, we grew in confidence, we knew we could get something at Derby. It was a good point.’

Towler was booked in the sixth minute following a foul on Max Bird, with referee Lee Swabey showing no leniency.

Yet despite walking that disciplinary tightrope, he refused to let it affect his game before replaced in the 84th minute by Clark Robertson.

He added: ‘When I was booked after six minutes, I thought it was going to be a long old day.

‘I don’t think it was even a foul, I thought I won the ball, to be fair.

‘Being on a booking, I had to be a bit clever and be professional with it and not dive in, but I got there in the end.’