Pompey 2-2 Derby: John Mousinho's post-match reaction

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho chats to The News after the Blues' 2-2 draw with Derby at Fratton Park

Transcript

00:00 John, a draw against Derby and a pulsating and thralling game that was as well.

00:05 Yeah, I mean, obviously a game against the first and second in the league and a lot of

00:10 ebbs and flows in the game, going two goals behind obviously made it difficult for us

00:13 but we managed to get back in the game and that was really pleasing.

00:16 Probably definitely the most threatening side of it to all and in the second half I think

00:19 we completely controlled the game and dominated but we didn't create quite enough chances

00:23 to win the game.

00:24 That was the only disappointment I think.

00:25 You said in the build up that it wasn't a must win game for Pombier and it really wasn't.

00:29 Derby needed to win that more, surely?

00:31 I think Derby are pretty happy with the point.

00:32 You can probably tell by the way they set up Derby were probably delighted with the

00:35 point I spoke to Paul after.

00:36 There's nothing wrong with that.

00:37 It's absolutely fair coming to Fratton Park but we wanted to win the game.

00:43 You can see with the substitutions that we made and the way that we still attacked the

00:47 game.

00:48 There were a couple of options we had at 2-2 when we still had that front line on the pitch

00:52 and we were slightly wary of it being slightly too open but we thought now we're going to

00:56 go for it and keep the strikers on the pitch and win the game.

00:59 Are you satisfied with the point?

01:01 I am in the circumstances of the game but I wanted to win the game, we wanted to win

01:05 the game.

01:06 You can tell by the way we set up that we did want to win the game so we have to be

01:09 satisfied with the point.

01:10 We have to get on with it.

01:11 I'll be very satisfied with the point if it turns out to be a crucial point at the back

01:14 end of the season.

01:15 You mentioned the circumstances, coming back from behind twice against a very good side.

01:19 Coming back from behind twice and also the conditions.

01:23 The conditions were really tough even as we stand here now.

01:25 Very windy, pretty cold, the rain and wind didn't make it easy and Derby didn't make

01:30 it easy either.

01:31 They were very well set up.

01:32 It was difficult to break down and to manage to do it twice we were quite pleased.

01:36 How did the conditions impact the way you play football?

01:38 I think it was just that we had to probably take away some of the risk that we maybe usually

01:43 take getting the ball into our two sixes.

01:47 As the play developed in the first half I thought the ball slowing down on the first

01:51 half and there were a couple of real puddles in the middle of the park and I was actually

01:54 worried at one point the game might be called off because the ball wasn't rolling particularly

01:57 well and when it does that it can be difficult to sort your touch out in the middle of the

02:01 park.

02:02 When you equalised you guys were still pushing for that winning as well?

02:04 Yeah that was the intention.

02:05 We wanted to win the game, we wanted to try and win the game.

02:07 Kip Colby kept Colby on obviously, Cass Tino, Abbey on the pitch.

02:13 I thought we were pretty attacking towards the end and unfortunately we couldn't do

02:17 the business.

02:18 Where does it leave you now do you feel?

02:20 We're in a really strong position.

02:21 I think if he'd have offered us this at the start of the year we obviously would have

02:25 taken it.

02:26 We wanted to win the game tonight but we've kept Derby five points away from us, we've

02:30 still got a game in hand which we will play before Derby are in action again.

02:35 So I think we're still in a fantastic position.

02:37 You picked Lee Evans tonight for his debut, what did you make of that?

02:40 Well I thought he really deserved a start after his performance on Friday.

02:43 I thought he moved the ball really well and 55-60 minutes was all we had planned for Lee

02:49 considering he hadn't started in six months.

02:51 So really happy with Lee's progress tonight, it's another massive step in the right direction

02:54 for us.

02:55 What did you make of his performance?

02:56 I thought he did really well.

02:57 I think you've got to take into consideration that he's been out for so long, he gave us

03:01 a lot of experience in the middle there and you probably don't see a lot of it in terms

03:06 of being available to look at on the eye because he gave us just a lot of control, kept his

03:12 position really well and yeah, very, very happy for him.

03:15 And the play at the May Wave scored the equaliser?

03:17 Yeah, we always had that sort of plan, not necessarily mocks but we thought this was

03:20 a game for him.

03:21 Sometimes when the team's sitting deep you need those players to come and score.

03:24 Owen, last year we watched him consistently score goals for Carlisle from the edge of

03:29 the box, really good striker, really good set-piece taker.

03:31 We saw it quite a bit in the first six months of the season and we just haven't quite seen

03:35 it yet as Portsmouth fans so we're very happy it happened today.

03:38 His moments though, there was that wonderful strike at Charlton as well, it's there isn't

03:41 it?

03:42 It's there, he's got brilliant technique on his strike and he will keep scoring goals.

03:46 Does he get them in training as well?

03:47 He gets them in training, so the only frustration is that we have two more of him on the bench.

03:52 And how did he take being dropped to the bench today?

03:54 It was fine, it wasn't dropped.

03:56 I mean I'm not one for using these sort of strange phrases that some modern head coaches

04:02 use so I suppose you could say he was dropped or whatever but we just thought it was a good

04:06 game for Lee to come into and losing his place in the side, he took absolutely fine because

04:11 we want players to be hungry and ready to go.

04:14 I said you need to be ready to go for Tuesday night, that's the most important thing and

04:18 he got his head down, trained well yesterday, came on and we saw the rewards.

04:21 What did you really like about Lee Evans' performance there?

04:23 I just thought he controlled the game really well as I said there and a lot of stuff out

04:28 of possession that you probably can't see but he did really well.

04:31 He looked a class act at times didn't he tonight?

04:33 Yeah he is, he is.

04:34 He keeps the ball really well, moves it nicely, always in the right position and that is the

04:39 most important thing for us sixers a lot of the time.

04:41 Owens a very different player, probably brings a bit more at the top end of the pitch and

04:45 it's great to have that contrast.

04:47 Thank you very much.

04:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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