RECAP as Pompey fail to impress once again in draw at struggling Oxford United

Good evening from the Kassam as we the near the conclusion of the League One season,

And it’s a big night for John Mousinho as the Pompey boss goes up against his former Oxford side, after arriving at Fratton Park from up the A34 in January.

The stakes are high for the U’s embroiled deep in the relegation mire, with goal difference separating them from the relegation places.

We will be building up to kick-off with all the talking points, before team news drops at 6.45pm.

Then it’s more discussion before the action gets underway at 7.45pm.

Pompey’s last ill-tempered Kassam Stadium visit resulted in an Oxford United staff member knocked out for 20 minutes and prompted a Football Association inquiry.

Now John Mousinho has switched sides – and lifted the lid on the half-time tunnel ‘argy bargy’ in that controversial February 2022 encounter.

Pompey head to the struggling U’s this evening (7.45pm) seeking to keep alive a rapidly fading play-off bid, led by former player Mousinho.

The 36-year-old quit as a player-coach in January to take up his first managerial role, replacing Danny Cowley at the Blues’ helm.

During five-and-a-half years at Oxford, he amassed 151 outings and five goals, while appeared as a substitute in last season’s 3-2 victory over Pompey.

Cowley’s men had lost Joe Morrell to a red card, with the game poised at 1-1 at half-time – only for restart to be delayed after United’s player liaison officer, Roger, suffered a blow to the head.

‘There was a bit of a scuffle at half-time in the tunnel,’ Mousinho revealed to The News.

‘Actually, away from the epicentre, Roger ended up tripping, falling, and hitting his head quite badly on the tunnel’s concrete floor.

‘I was coming in at the time, I never fully saw what was going on, there was just a huge amount of bodies, as always when you go into tunnels at half-time.

‘You have the match officials, 11 players from each side, all of the subs, all of the staff as well. Oxford’s not even a small tunnel, but far too many people were in.

‘There was a bit of pushing and shoving and unfortunately poor Roger took the brunt of it.

‘I’m not saying Roger was collateral damage, but that did calm everything down. Everybody stopped with the argy bargy at that point because they realised it had actually got quite serious.

‘As soon as it happened, everyone went into their respective changing rooms and calmed down.

‘The paramedics were present and there was a real concern for Roger, he was out cold for a good 20 minutes, and was whipped off in the back of an ambulance really quickly.

‘That meant a long, long stoppage in a crazy game. Joe Morrell had already been sent off and for large parts of the match it looked like Pompey were going to hold on for that 2-1 victory, until Oxford scored twice late on.

‘Thankfully Roger was absolutely fine afterwards and is still at the club, a friendly face away from football operations and all-round good guy.

‘And I will take the mickey out of him when I see him on Tuesday!’

Oxford represents Mousinho’s longest spell at a football club in a playing career which ended upon taking the Pompey job.

And, following two play-off qualifications with them, he’s now going back with another club.

He added: ‘Most of the same faces are still there, apart from the first-team head coach.

‘All the other coaches have remained, so there’s going to be a lot of continuity from when I was there in January, although I’ll be in a different dressing room.

‘It’s going to be really strange for me, but something I’ve just got to keep to myself and let the lads focus on the game.’

Pompey, of course, will be facing a manager heavily linked with arriving in January. Liam Manning was on the shortlist to succeed Danny Cowley before the Blues got their man in John Mousinho. Now the former MK Dons boss has a big task on his hand keeping his new club in League One.

Bernard, Lowery, Lane and Jacobs in for Robertson, Dale, Hackett and Pigott.