Boss happy with Oxford recovery
It looked like Pompey’s unbeaten league record was about to come to an end at the Kassam Stadium.
They were trailing to Liam Sercombe’s first half goal for Oxford and not looking likely to find the net themselves.
But Adam McGurk let fly from distance just past the hour mark and the ball flew into the net.
The visitors then took control and might have gone on to grab another if skipper Michael Doyle had not been dismissed for a second bookable offence.
And Paul Cook was pleased with the way his side recovered from their poor start to take something from the game.
The Blues boss said: “We were really poor and had completely lost our way in the game – we were lucky to still be in it.
“At half-time I said that if we kept giving the ball away then it would cause us problems – it was the same thing against Morecambe last month.
“But we showed a lot more maturity after the break and got better, eventually taking complete control.
“Adam’s such a good player and he gives us something different and has a bit more of a physical presence than some of the other lads.
“Both teams played good football at different stages. It was a really decent advertisement for the league.
“Overall we’re pleased with the point because at one point we were getting overrun.
“Great credit must go to the supporters for getting behind the players – especially in the last 10 minutes when we really needed them.”
With Brian Murphy out with a groin injury, Paul Jones made his first league start of the season and impress between the sticks.
Cook said: “Paul was excellent and made two important saves in the first half to keep us in the game.
“We’ve got a lot of players who have patiently been waiting for their chance and he has grasped his.”