Caretaker boss felt Blues deserved more at Boro
The start of Gary Waddock’s spell in caretaker charge of Pompey failed to yield a change of fortune on the road.
But the Blues showed plenty of character in a 1-0 defeat against promotion-chasing Stevenage.
Tom Pett’s early strike proved the difference between the sides at the Lamex Stadium.
Pompey showed plenty of attacking intent after the interval, though, with Craig Westcarr having an effort ruled out for offside.
And – just a day after Andy Awford departed as Blues boss – Waddock was pleased with the effort on display from his troops.
He said: “It’s been a crazy time. Awfs is a fantastic guy and it’s sad to see him go – I’m bitterly disappointed for him.
“I’ve been in that situation myself before, so I know that it’s not a nice thing to go through.
“But we’ve got to pull together as a group and put in decent performances for the club.
“Credit to the players because we couldn’t have asked any more from them.
“Heads could have gone down after we conceded that early goal, but they responded well and rolled their sleeves up.
“My first words to the players afterwards were that you don’t always get what you deserve.”
Jed Wallace (hamstring) missed out against Stevenage after joining the ever-growing injury list.
And Ryan Taylor added his name after going off with a groin problem just 27 minutes into the match.
Waddock said: “It’s unfortunate for him because he’s been in good form and always works very hard.
“We’ve got a lot of injuries at the moment, but that does give an opportunity for different players to impress.”