'We were creating chances at will' - Danny Cowley's Portsmouth goal frustration after more blanks during defeat to MK Dons

Ethan Robson’s 71st minute close-range finish secured a 1-0 victory for MK Dons this afternoon.

Frustratingly, it arrived following a Pompey corner – and during a lengthy period in which the Cowley’s men had been on top.

Certainly the head coach believes the Blues had four ‘really good’ chances over the match, with Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, John Marquis and substitute Ronan Curtis having fine opportunities.

As it was, it’s a third straight defeat for a Pompey side whose lack of goals continues to worry.

Cowley told The News: ‘It’s disappointing to lose, particularly when we had a really good place in the game.

‘After 70 minutes, it felt there would only be one winner, we worked really hard to wrestle the control.

‘In the second half we came out and played with much more commitment against the ball, pressed much higher, stepped onto their back three and hoped to turn them over.

‘We had a period in the second half where we were creating chances at will – and unfortunately didn’t take them.

‘There were four really good chances, one in the first half as well, and probably three or four other really good moments.

‘People rightly will criticise us offensively because we haven’t scored for three (league) games and definitely have to look at our decision-making and execution at speed.

‘We have also got to look at the final action because we had some good chances to win the game.

‘We’ve worked really hard on our defensive transition and for their goal we just had to lock it in on the edge of the area – and didn’t.

‘We didn’t have a chance to tactically foul, which sometimes you have to do when a team is counter-attacking, and didn’t track our runners.

‘When you make a few errors, you tend to concede.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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