Blues suffer home defeat
Pompey Academy’s title hopes were dealt a blow as they lost 1-0 to AFC Wimbledon at Furze Lane.
But the Blues twice looked like they had forged ahead following goalmouth scrambles, only for the officials to decide that the ball had not crossed the line on both occasions.
And Dan Agyei then hit the Dons winner 20 minutes from the end after the Blues had lost possession.
Academy coach Paul Hardyman said: “The condition of the pitch didn’t help us and meant that there wasn’t a lot of football played by either side.
“We like to get the ball down and pass it, but AFC Wimbledon wouldn’t allow us to do that and it was a really scrappy affair.
“I said at half-time that one goal would probably be enough to win the game, although unfortunately it wasn’t us that got it.
“It came about because we tried to play the ball out from the back and we need to learn when the right time to do that is.
“Our decision making wasn’t good enough, but the boys know they should perform better and it’s all part of their learning curve.
“We’ve got Colchester next week and they’re at the top of the table, so we’ll have to improve if we want to return to winning ways.”
Pompey: Bass; Haunstrup, Field, Whatmough (Smart 46), Medway; Rwakarambwe (Sayers 76), Close, Nilsen (Joseph-Buadi 80), Kim; Tarbuck, Chaplin
Subs not used: Davis, May