Skipper Gareth Evans' verdict on missed header and chances Portsmouth failed to take in Arsenal defeat

The Blues’ bid to spring an FA Cup surprise against the Premier League Gunner’s array of exciting young talent eventually came up short as they lost 2-0 at Fratton Park.

But that was only after Kenny Jackett’s men threw everything at Mikel Arteta’s side in the first half in front of a sell-out crowd.

The Fratton faithful ramped up the volume as their side went in search of first win since 1958 against the Londoners.

Pompey got themselves into a number of promising positions but failed to turn their pressure into something tangible.

The final ball or decision making prevented the home side from carving out any gilt-edged chances, although the best opening perhaps fell to Evans as he headed over from Steve Seddon’s cross in the 28th minute.

Evans admitted he felt he could’ve have done better, although he was keeping the miss in context.

He said: ‘We had a couple of opportunities and perhaps if one of those goes in it could’ve been different.

‘We pushed them back quite well in the first half and managed to cut them open a couple of times.

‘I had a header and I was disappointed with that. I felt I could’ve done better.

‘Marcus (Harness) had a chance and there were a few opportunities.

‘If we’d scored one of those it could’ve made all the difference.

‘I think their quality showed through in the end, though, and I think 2-0 probably was a fair ‘scoreline.’

Evans was delighted to skipper Pompey as he came back into the fray after limited game time in 2020.

The atmosphere was everything anticipated in the first half as the home side made a decent fist of the challenge of toppling the Gunners.

A goal in first-half stoppage time from Sokratis Papastathopoulos deflated Pompey and second six minutes after the restart from Eddie Nketiah effectively put the game to bed, although Evans took solace from the resolve his side showed.

He added: ‘The crowd was excellent as ever, got behind us and that helps. You can go 1-0 and 2-0 down against teams, fall away and it ends us being a cricket score.

‘We stuck at it, though, and tried to do the right things, but I think their class did show in the end.’