Michael Duff hails ‘deserved’ point as Barnsley hit back late on at Portsmouth

Michael Duff felt Barnsley deserved their last-gasp equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth.

Bobby Thomas scored a late leveller to rescue the play-off chasing Tykes a point after Colby Bishop had given Pompey the lead.

Manager Duff said: “We deserved at least a point today.

“In the first half, we’ve hit the bar and Devante Cole has only the keeper to beat, so we should have been leading at half-time.

“We weren’t quite as fluid in the second half. They’ve scored a good goal, then we’ve scored a good goal which is then disallowed, and then we’ve scored in the last minute, so a good spirit.

“The lads that came on influenced the game as we tried to do things a bit different.

“Portsmouth are a good team. I think the club are going to put something in today about the referee. He didn’t even book the player for the blatant foul for the disallowed goal.

“I can’t say too much because it will cost me money.”

Pompey took the lead four minutes into the second half when Marlon Pack’s cross saw Bishop prod the ball into the net.

There was controversy 11 minutes from time when Barnsley put the ball into the net, only to discover the referee had given a free-kick instead of playing the advantage.

Thomas headed home from 10 yards a minute from time to deny Pompey the win.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho said: “It’s a disappointment to have not got the win today. It’s a bit flat in the changing room as you would expect.

“The players are gutted and felt they should have won the game. However, I’ve taken a huge amount of positives from the game.

“Probably the most pleasing thing for me was that having gone ahead, we stayed on the front foot. We didn’t sit back, and I genuinely felt confident of winning the game. Most of the second half is spent in their half.

“There are a couple of areas we need to address. One is the fact that we conceded, and we should look at being more clinical in front of goal.

“We should be two or three goals up before their goal with the chances we had, so closing the games down is crucial. Barnsley are a good team, and we did well.”