McGurk delighted with Oxford leveller
He has had to bide his time, but Adam McGurk is starting to show just what he is capable of.
A pre-season injury meant the summer signing was down the pecking order when the campaign got underway.
But he has now netted in each of the last two games to help Pompey remain unbeaten in League Two.
His latest effort was a spectacular long-range strike at the Kassam Stadium, which secured the Blues a point against Oxford.
Now McGurk is eager to keep contributing and make sure he keeps his place in Paul Cook’s starting 11.
The striker said: “I got in a few situations and passed the ball, but this time I thought I’d have a shot and managed to catch the keeper out.
“I knew I was going to have a go as soon as I received it and thankfully I’ve seen it fly into the net.
“There was a bit of movement and I’m not sure if there was a defender in the keeper’s line of sight, but he didn’t see it.
“I got the thigh injury in pre-season and that didn’t help me, but I’m fit now and it’s good to be scoring goals.
“We’ve got a big squad with a lot of good players, so you can’t expect to just walk into the team.
“You need to earn your place in the side and I have to keep performing if I want to remain there.”
Pompey were well below-par before the break against Oxford and trailed to Liam Sercombe’s strike.
But they improved as the second half progressed and the equaliser heralded a spell of dominance that only ended when Michael Doyle was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
McGurk said: “Going down to 10 men made things difficult, so in the grand scheme of things a point away from home is a good result.
“It might have been a different story without the red card as we were controlling the game at that point.
“We were too direct at times in the first half and looked sloppy at times – we were playing into their hands.
“The gaffer didn’t lose his head at half-time, but told us to get back to playing how we do most of the time.”
Watch what McGurk and manager Paul Cook had to say about the game below or subscribe to Pompey PlayerHD for the full interviews.
Watch what McGurk and manager Paul Cook had to say about the game below or subscribe to Pompey PlayerHD for the full interviews.