Whittingham: Loss was harsh

Shaun Batt scored the only goal of the game last night at the Matchroom Stadium following a mistake by Dan Butler.

Certainly it was an encouraging display from the visitors, who headed to Russell Slade’s side on the back of successive wins during a recent improved run.

With 1,133 visiting fans roaring them, they couldn’t have been disappointed by the efforts of Whittingham’s side.

For the caretaker boss, the 1-0 result was as harsh as they come from a match he is adamant Pompey deserved to win.

He said: ‘Football can be cruel but it’s a results game.

‘We went there and lost having played very well and been the better side.

‘I was delighted with everybody’s performance, it was fantastic. We were full of running and full of energy.

‘We did have enough opportunities to kill the game off, that’s the one disappointing thing. We didn’t kill them off.

‘Jed (Wallace) had a couple of chances, other times we have gone in and not quite got the final ball through or taken our shot off at the right time.

‘But no way did we deserve to lose.

‘They have done everything we asked them to do and it was a great performance from us.

‘We didn’t deserve to draw it, we didn’t deserve to lose it – we deserved to win it.

‘We have coped with everything, we put them under pressure and made them make mistakes.’