John Mousinho rues missed chances in Portsmouth’s draw with QPR

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho rued his side’s missed chances after watching them fall back into the relegation zone after a 1-1 draw with play-off chasing QPR.

Terry Devlin put Pompey ahead in a dominant first half but Rangers captain Jimmy Dunne headed in a deserved equaliser in the second half.

It means Portsmouth are three unbeaten but have dropped back below Oxford on goal difference.

Mousinho said: “It’s very tight and the most important thing for us is to not worry about that. It’s to worry about what it looks like above us with a few of those places where it’s really tightened up.

“It is important for us just over the next couple of weeks to make sure we try and draw in as many of those teams as possible.”

Pompey were impressive in the first 45 minutes and deservedly led when Devlin lashed in the loose ball following a Conor Chaplin corner.

They had further chances to score, the best of them when Colby Bishop headed another Chaplin delivery against the near post.

“I thought we were excellent in the first half and well-deserving of the lead,” said Mousinho. “(We) could have had a couple more, I think, and that was the only disappointing thing.

“I think on the balance of the game, it’s a fair result. But certainly the way that we were playing and the way that we dominated the first 45, we definitely should have won the game.

“So it does feel like there’s an opportunity there to have taken all three points, albeit QPR have a really good side. They’ve got the ability to really hurt teams like we saw last week when they were 4-0 up at half-time against Leicester.”

There were no such fireworks for QPR boss Julien Stephan in the first half at Fratton Park. His players took until the 58th minute to register a shot on target, though they were much improved after half-time.

He said: “Two different halves. Very difficult first half for us. It was not good enough in terms of intensity, in terms of quality, with the ball, without the ball, position was not good as well.

“We lost a lot of duels, so it was a poor first half for us. And good reaction in the second half because we needed to fix some different problems during half-time…in terms of position and in terms of intensity as well.”

QPR levelled when Dunne rose highest to meet Nicolas Madsen’s corner during a period of sustained pressure for the away side.

Stephan added: “We scored after a set-piece and we had two or three good opportunities to score another one. But when you play only one half away, it’s difficult to imagine a top, top result.”