Josh Murphy celebrates after levelling for Portsmouth against Hull City
Josh Murphy rescued a point for Portsmouth as the Championship strugglers came from behind to draw against Hull City.
Pompey had gone behind early in a first half dominated by the Tigers, the hosts taking the lead through Brazilian striker Joao Pedro with his first goal for the club.
But John Mousinho’s side returned the favour in a second half as the home side lost composure and their lead, and Murphy fired in via a deflection straight after the restart.
The visitors could have stolen all three points late on only for Tigers goalkeeper Ivor Pandur to deny Murphy and Callum Lang with a double save in added time.
A point was not enough to move Pompey off the foot of the table but it will provide a lift for under pressure Mousinho.
For Hull there was frustration at a ninth home draw in their last 14 games and a failure to turn first half dominance into an unassailable position.
Yet after an odd game which saw momentum swing wildly from hosts to the visitors either side of the break, they were lucky in the end to grab the point.
Hull dominated early exchanges and were ahead after just 11 minutes, as Charlie Hughes switched play out wide with a peach of a cross-field ball to Mohamed Belloumi and his centre tucked away neatly by Pedro from eight yards.
Yet the home side missed a host of chances to double or even triple their lead by half time, Xavier Simons and Gustavo Puerta both having efforts kept out by Nicolas Schmid in the Pompey goal.
With the second refusing to come and Callum Lang going close just shy of the half hour mark, the visitors never lost hope.
And Hull reached half time with their lead in tact did not keep it long with Pompey drawing level within a minute of the restart.
The home side had chances to stop the ball getting to Murphy and chances to clear it when it did, but the winger’s shot from around 15 yards out left Pandur with no chance, as it took a deflection on its way inside the right hand post.
Hull were shaken by the intensity of Pompey’s start to the second period and rode their luck surviving a penalty appeal just after the hour mark and generally keeping the Tigers penned in.
In the end they greeted the final whistle with a sense of relief after surviving a stoppage time scare, Pandur denying Murphy and Lang with an stubborn double stop which ensured points were shared.
Hull City manager Tim Walter speaking to BBC Radio Humberside:
“We lost two points to be honest. They didn’t have many chances just from set pieces. But unfortunately if you don’t score you have to be satisfied with one point, but it is two less for us.
“Our crosses are not good enough or precise enough and our shooting as well - especially in the first half where we had two or three situations. We didn’t hit the target.
“We can be more patient especially in the first half but we have to learn and adapt and especially against such teams you have to win.”
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho speaking to BBC Radio Solent:
"We wanted to stay in the game in the first half and make it difficult for Hull and I think we did for the most part. I was frustrated with the goal but apart from that I think Nico [Schmid] only had to make one save.
"At 1-0 here we felt even going into 60 or 70 minutes we’d be OK but as it turned out we got a couple of bits of detail right from the kick-off and ended up scoring.
"From then it was one way traffic and we definitely should have won the game but the performance level was brilliant.
"The big challenge now for us is that we react on Tuesday as if we lost the game and get after Plymouth."
