Portsmouth pulls off an important home win over Blackburn Rovers in a match replete with pivotal moments and dramatic shifts. The match incident occurred during the leadround encounter at Fratton Park. Similarly, the home side, Portsmouth showed admirable character after going behind early on. The win is monumental for Portsmouth, as they look to distance themselves from the battle at the bottom of the league table.
The third-round clash started off with Valerien Ismael’s Blackburn Rovers taking the lead a minute before the interval. Sidnei Tavares weaved his way through midfield and laid it off to Yuki Ohashi, who blasted a shot past the tinted-glass keeper. This goal was something of a shock, as Blackburn hadn’t tested the Birmingham keeper before this sudden opening. As the momentum seemed to completely shift against the hosts, Portsmouth showed their mettle and responded well.
Portsmouth’s Response
Portsmouth’s players dug in and fought back with real purpose in the second period, nowhere more so than with their crucial equaliser. Portsmouth kept the pressure on and found space to create five great scoring opportunities in the first 30 minutes. The match remained scoreless when Terry Devlin’s effort was remarkably denied by Aynsley Pears.
In a decisive second, Conor Chaplin catapulted one precisely curled corner. Ibane Bowat took full advantage, getting there first and heading home, scoring his first goal for Portsmouth in the process. This equalizing goal served to fire up the home crowd and revitalize hope for the home team. Just after the half-hour mark, Callum Lang equalized for Blackburn in the 62nd minute, temporarily halting Portsmouth’s march to victory.
“The football club needed that result. We needed the performance more than anything because, I thought we were drab coming out in the second half, considering how much we had to play for.” – John Mousinho
Blackburn’s Ambitions
For all of their early momentum, Blackburn had a difficult time settling into the match. Yuki Ohashi’s goal proved to be the best moment by the visitors, a scary glimpse of their attacking prowess. Once Lang brought the game back to 1-1, the squeeze was on Blackburn to retake the upper hand.
Todd Cantwell almost pulled off the completely outrageous 40-yard lob that surely would have turned things back in Blackburn’s favor once more. But thankfully for Portsmouth, Nicolas Schmid was onto it and pulled off a huge save to deny Cantwell’s effort, leaving Portsmouth very much in the tie.
Ryoya Morishita was a threat with a dangerous cross to Andri Gudjohnsen. Unfortunately for Blackburn, Gudjohnsen didn’t get a good connection on his header, giving Portsmouth a chance to recover and drive back up the pitch.
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