Portsmouth manager John Mousinho was delighted with the League One leaders’ helter-skelter 2-1 win at home to Oxford.
Christian Saydee came off the bench to score the goal that fired Pompey a step closer to promotion after Cameron Brannagan’s penalty had cancelled out Callum Lang’s opener for the home side.
Mousinho said: “You could describe that as a pretty breathtaking display from both sides. It was an enjoyable game to watch and with both teams pressing, it created openings for us and them.
“I think it was a good advert for Division One football and I personally think Oxford would be feeling a little hard done by not to go away with at least a point.
“It was probably not our best performance of the season but after what has historically been draws between the sides, it was nice to get the win.
“We started well with the goal but then shot ourselves in the foot for their penalty.
“We seemed to feel a bit sorry for ourselves after that until half-time and we were in fact slow starters at the start of the second half.
“But once we got the second, I felt we were in control from that point on.”
In a fast and furious opening 45 minutes, the sides went in all square.
Pompey took the lead in the second minute when a powerful shot from Lang squirmed under goalkeeper Jamie Cumming.
But Oxford equalised after six minutes when Pompey gave the ball away and Sean Raggett brought down ex-Pompey midfielder Owen Dale for a penalty which was easily converted by Brannagan.
Mark Harris then hit the Pompey post on 13 minutes.
Oxford had the first chance of the second half but Josh Murphy was also denied by the woodwork.
Pompey regained the lead after 67 minutes when Saydee held off a strong challenge to run clear and place the ball wide of Cumming.
Oxford pushed for an equaliser but to no avail.
Oxford boss Des Buckingham said: “I think that’s our best performance since taking the reins. But that’s the frustrating thing because we have come away with nothing.
“We’ve done more than enough to have won the game. We’ve hit the post twice and have had opportunities cleared off the line in the second half.
“We did enough to have won a couple of games out there today. If we can perform for the next 10 games like we did today, I will be extremely happy.
“Although frustrating, we have to approach the next game in the same way we did for this game and if we do that we will position ourselves strongly for that.”
Reggae Boyz Magee, Williams help Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC mark 10th anniversary in USL Championship with maiden title
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, home of Reggae Boyz Tyreek Magee and Devon “Speedy” Williams, earned their first USL Championship league title with a 3-0 victory against Rhode Island FC in the final before a sellout crowd of 8,023 fans at Weidner Field on Saturday.
Williams played all 90 minutes while Magee came on as a second half substitute.
The Switchbacks opened the scoring in the 22nd minute through Juan Tejada, who claimed Championship Final MVP.
Three minutes before the halftime interval, sustained pressure from Colorado Springs was rewarded when Jairo Henriquez doubled their advantage.
In the 53rd minute the Switchbacks had their third through Haitian international Ronaldo Damus.
The victory capped the Switchbacks’ 10th anniversary season and maintained their perfect postseason record at home since the opening of Weidner Field in 2021.
As for Magee and Williams’ individual stats throughout the season, Magee scored three goals and provided one assist in 18 appearances while Williams recorded five assists in 36 appearances.
This win also makes Williams now a four-time USL Champion having won with New York Red Bulls II in 2015-16 as well as back to back titles with Louisville City FC in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
The 32-year-old Williams has been capped 35 times by the Reggae Boyz, most recently in a friendly against Guatemala last December while Magee, 25, has earned 13 caps for the Reggae Boyz, most recently against the USA in the Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals last week.
De Bruyne describes 'chaotic' Man City scenes
Kevin De Bruyne conceded there has been some chaos behind the scenes at Manchester City, but refuted the suggestion there is a dark atmosphere.
City have lost their last five games in all competitions, while they are eight points back from leaders Liverpool in the Premier League.
Their dismal run of form continued with a shock 4-0 loss at home to Tottenham on Saturday.
De Bruyne, who has featured just six times in the Premier League this season and made just four starts, says there is not a bad mood in the camp, though.
"I wouldn't say dark, it's been a bit chaotic," said the Belgian ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash with Feyenoord.
"I've seen so many people pass around the medical area, sport science, whose playing and not playing. There's been so many people playing who shouldn't have been playing.
"The games against Sporting, Brighton and Bournemouth were all over the place. Tottenham was more normal.
"I didn't see too much change, everyone is down about the five losses. You have to move on."
City have already shipped 17 league goals this term, while they were beaten 4-1 by Sporting CP in their last European outing.
Since their losing run started with a 2-1 loss to Spurs in the EFL Cup on October 30, City have conceded 14 goals from 10.6 expected goals against (xGA).
"There's only so much you can control from the sides. It's not a nice feeling but it's fine," De Bryne added.
"It seems like we're not really dealing with the moments when it goes bad. There's moments like the Tottenham game which we do really well. The main issue is both boxes. We're conceding too many goals. I don't think we played a bad game the other day but we lost 4-0."
"If you give five chances against Tottenham, that's not that bad. They get two tap-ins. With the way we play, you have to accept there's more opportunity for teams to have a counter. At the moment, we're not dealing with this in a good way.
"We're always going to give a chance away. We're giving it away too many times. When we give a chance at goal, it's basically a goal."
De Bruyne is out of contract at the end of the season, though the 33-year-old is not overly concerned about his future.
"I honestly don't know. At the start of the season, I knew talks would happen but then the thing [injury] happened in Brentford. It was meant to be a couple of days and then it was eight, nine weeks. I put it all to the side," he added.
"I'm not too worried. I'm fine. I'm happy, I just want to play good football again and the future, we'll see.
"I only can really give you the answers, but I don't know. If there's no talks it will be my last year at the club, but I don't know.
"I had a conversation in the summer, but then I had the injury so I wasn't in the right frame of mind to talk about that. I need to be back on the pitch and be myself again. There's no rush, I don't feel uncomfortable, I'm not worried."
Real Madrid dealt Vinicius injury blow before Champions League clash at Liverpool
Vinicius Junior is set to miss his side's Champions League clash at Liverpool after sustaining a leg muscle injury, Real Madrid announced.
Reports suggest that Vinicius could be sidelined for at least three weeks, which means he could miss up to seven games in all competitions before the winter break, including against Girona and Athletic Bilbao in LaLiga and a Champions League visit to Atalanta.
The Brazilian played all 90 minutes against Leganes on Sunday, setting up Kylian Mbappe's opener in Madrid's 3-0 win.
In the Champions League, he is the second-highest scorer, having netted four times in four matches, while only Rico Lewis (13) has created more chances than him (12).
"Following tests carried out today on our player Vini Jr by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with an injury to the biceps femoris in his left leg. Pending evolution," Madrid said in a statement.
Vinicius is the latest to join the club's lengthy injury list, which includes key players like Rodrygo, Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba.
Madrid are second in the LaLiga standings on 30 points. However, after two losses in their last three games in the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti's side could be in trouble with a bad result at Anfield. They are 18th in the 36-team table with six points from four games.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
