John Mousinho stated that his team’s victory over Carlisle came incredibly close to being undeserved.
The Pompey manager believed his squad was lucky to secure their late, late victory at Fratton Park despite a lackluster second-half performance. With a header in stoppage time, Conor Shaughnessy gave the Blues their seventh straight victory and their 24th straight league triumph. This implies that Pompey now lead the standings by three points, with Barnsley in third place behind them by eight points.
Mounsinho conceded that the Cumbrians were dealt harsh justice in this instance. “It’s fantastic to win that way, and I’d take three points any way,” he remarked. “That probably makes it a little better, especially considering the nerves and likely disappointment of the second-half performance.”
With the exception of putting the ball in the back of the net, I thought we played pretty well in the first half. We performed incredibly well when not in possession and neutralized Carlisle’s danger. They went longer to Joe Garner and didn’t play at all. They excel at that, and he is a very seasoned player at this level. “Aside from giving up a few free kicks, I thought we handled that well and created a lot off the back of that.” I believe we may have been lost from sight on a different day.
However, the game changed dramatically in the second half, and Carlisle played really well. It was my opinion that they were really unfortunate not to have gained at least one point. They dominated the game and gave us more issues than we had. After that evaluation of the second half, I suppose it’s encouraging that we’re leaving with three points. For the first time this season, to be honest, I felt after the game that we pinched it and didn’t quite deserve what we had. “I think the results of the other 12 games have been fair, and maybe we could have won a couple of the draws.” However, I believe that this time we’ve been a little unlucky, and Carlisle should feel a little resentful.
