‘We’ve got no god given right’: Portsmouth boss’ verdict on draw at struggling Morecambe

The Blues had to come from behind to grab a point at the Mazuma Stadium against Derek Adams’ side.

Cowley saw some of his experienced players come up short, as they and 1,000-plus fans made the longest trip of the season.

The head coach admitted Pompey failed to come up to the required standard in periods of the game, particularly after falling behind and over the game’s latter stages.

He pointed to Barnsley losing at the Shrimps’ home and Derby drawing of late, that it’s not a given for his players to come away from such venues with success.

Cowley said: ‘It was a tough game.

‘We found good control and they scored from their first attack, which is incredibly frustrating.

‘I didn’t like us at the back end of the first half. I thought we got emotional and took too many risks.

‘We rectified it at half-time and I felt we played some good football up to the goal.

‘They are a difficult team to play against, particularly here.

‘They’ve had a good record here in recent times, they beat Barnsley and drew with Derby last time out.

‘No team has a god given right (to win) and we certainly haven’t.

‘After we scored I was disappointed.

‘It was good to get the equaliser and we just had to keep doing what we were doing.

‘But we get emotionally charged and the last 15 minutes we want to win.

‘So we take some risks and the game got really open.

‘Josh had to make good saves and today we needed him.’

Cowley was a frustrated figure as Clark Robertson came off injured in the first half, with Zak Swanson also withdrawn after picking up a knock.

He felt that knocked his team’s momentum at key moments in the game.

Cowley said: ‘Too many things happened. We had to take Marlon off, Zak had to come off and we’d lost Clark. We haven’t got the players.’