John Mousinho was pleased with the manner in which Pompey dealt with adversity to claim a point at MK Dons.
They had taken an early lead through Connor Ogilvie’s volley, only for Joe Morrell to be controversially dismissed following an altercation with Daniel Harvie.
But the visitors defended resolutely from that point to limit their in-form opponents to very few clear-cut opportunities.
Mo Eisa ultimately levelled for the Dons, but it was Pompey who came closest to snatching the win when Joe Pigott curled a shot against the post.
And while Mousinho was frustrated to lose ground in the race for the play-offs, he had plenty of praise for his side.
The Blues boss said: “We were excellent in the first half and I was really pleased, not just in terms of the possession we had, but also the way we pressed.
“MK Dons had been a really fluid side over the past couple of weeks and sides had struggled to deal with that, but we restricted their time in our half and looked calm on the ball.
“We were composed and knew that we’d manage to break them down. We got the goal and looked in control.
"Their player has got him in a headlock after putting a forearm in his face – I can’t for the life of me understand why none of the officials have seen that."
“It was a brilliant strike – we’d been encouraging Connor to get in the box and arrive at the back post. He’s scored a few in his career and with that finish you can see why.
“The red card has obviously changed things completely and Joe has been absolutely brilliant for us lately.
“Their player has got him in a headlock after putting a forearm in his face – I can’t for the life of me understand why none of the officials have seen that.
“He’s just tried to get up and has shown great restraint, although the linesman says that he’s seen something. We’ll have to see what the referee puts in his report.
“But I thought we generally defended well in the second half, with Matt Macey not having many saves to make. We actually had the best chance late on.”
Di’Shon Bernard was handed a first start for almost two months, with Ryley Towler not even on the bench.
Mousinho explained: “We wanted an aggressive press and we just felt it really suited him to come in and man-mark Leko, which he did a brilliant job of.
“It’s probably one of the toughest decisions since I’ve been here to leave Ryley out of the squad, but he was magnificent with it.”