Swansea City 2-2 Portsmouth: FLW report as Swans comeback means the shares are spoiled | OneFootball

FLW report live from the Swansea.com Stadium as Swansea City host Portsmouth in the Championshi

Swansea City came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Portsmouth at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Pompey opened the scoring with first half goals from Matt Ritchie and Josh Murphy before a goal in first half stoppage time from Myles Peart-Harris and an early second half goal from Liam Cullen sealed a point for the Swans.

Luke Williams will be pleased by the way his side came from 2-0 down to seal a point, but will feel that it was two points dropped as his side dominated possession and had plenty of chances to seal the three points.

Swansea City 2-2 Portsmouth

Pompey were dealt a blow after just 20 seconds when skipper Marlon Pack was booked for a foul on Zan Vipotnik, with the Swansea striker set to break through on goal had he not been brought down.

From the resulting free kick, Vipotnik saw a goalbound shot blocked before Harry Darling headed just over, letting the visitors off the hook after a hectic start to proceedings.

Swansea had another chance to open the scoring after six minutes, but Joe Allen's header drifted wide of the Pompey goal after a wicked delivery from Matt Grimes had caught the visitor's defence out.

The home side then saw a player go into the book of referee Will Finnie after Ben Cabango brought down Josh Murphy who had embarked on a dangerous run.

A well-worked corner routine between Ronald and Josh Tymon set up Liam Cullen, but he was unable to connect cleanly with the shot which went wide, further evidence of Swansea's bright start in the opening 15 minutes.

However, it was the visitors who'd make the breakthrough after 25 minutes when Murphy beat Swansea right-back Josh Key and put a low cross across the face of goal for Matt Ritchie to slide in and finish.

Swansea had the chance to level eight minutes later but Myles-Peart Harris was unable to keep his free header under control, and it went well over Nico Schmid's goal.

Peart-Harris had another huge chance to put Swansea back on level terms before the break, but he was unable to connect with Key's cross with an open goal in front of him, letting Pompey off the hook yet again.

Pompey dealt Swansea a sucker punch on the stroke of half-time when Murphy fired past Lawrence Vigouroux out of nothing after being first to a loose ball that deflected off Ben Cabango, doubling their advantage and giving his side what seemed to be a comfortable lead at the break.

However, Swansea finally got the goal they deserved in added time when Peart-Harris beat Connor Ogilvie and bundled home a cross, giving his side a much-needed lifeline ahead of their second half.

The Swans were dominating possession in the early stages of the second half and nearly equalised when Peart-Harris hit the bar on 51 minutes, but they made no mistake three minutes later when Peart-Harris teed up Liam Cullen who finished from close range to bring the score back to 2-2.

The game had really come to life and Swansea should have taken the lead soon after when Josh Tymon teed up Jisung Eom on his return from injury but he pulled his shot from close-range wide.

Swansea looked like they'd taken the lead on 79 minutes when Tymon teed up Cullen yet again, but an incredible save from Schmid in the Portsmouth goal kept the scores level, and only added to the Swans' frustration.

With just three minutes remaining, Swansea substitute Florian Bianchini had a huge chance to win it when he was played through on goal by Cullen but he rushed his shot and pulled it wide.

Despite being on the backfoot all half, Pompey then had a golden chance to win it when Ogilvie played in Christian Saydee but he was unable to connect properly with just the goalkeeper to beat.

Pompey were able to withstand some late pressure from the Swans, and took a hard-earned point back to the South Coast, leaving the home side frustrated.

Swansea City player ratings

Lawrence Vigouroux - 6

Josh Key - 7

Ben Cabango - 6

Harry Darling - 7

Josh Tymon - 7

Matt Grimes - 7

Joe Allen - 7 (Jisung Eom (65) - 7)

Myles Peart-Harris - 7

Ronald - 7 (Azeem Abdulai (73) - 6)

Liam Cullen - 7

Zan Vipotnik - 6 (Florian Bianchini (73) - 6)

Unused subs: Jon McLaughlin, Cyrus Christie, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Kyle Naughton, Jay Fulton, Goncalo Franco.

Portsmouth player ratings

Nico Schmid - 8

Terry Devlin - 6

Regan Poole -6

Marlon Pack - 5

Connor Ogilvie - 6

Andre Dozzell - 6

Freddie Potts - 6

Matt Ritchie - 7 (Harvey Blair (67) - 6)

Callum Lang - 7

Josh Murphy - 8 (Paddy Lane (81) - 6)

Colby Bishop - 6 (Mark O’Mahony (55) - (6) / Christian Saydee (67) - 6)

Unused subs Jordan Archer, Tom McIntyre, Abdoulaye Kamara, Owen Moxon, Elias Sorensen.

Post-match reaction from Luke Williams

Despite his side overturning a two-goal deficit to seal a point, Swansea boss Luke Williams was clearly unhappy after the draw. In his press conference he said: "I'm annoyed more than frustrated. I'm annoyed because we didn't start the game correctly.

"If we had played well for 90 minutes and somehow the ball hit the woodwork, or the goalkeeper made a save or someone made a block, I'd be frustrated, but I'm annoyed more than frustrated.

"We gave ourselves a mountain to climb because we didn't approach the game correctly. It's too easy (to use energy as an excuse) because I care too much about them and there'll be more times where they feel like they don't have energy, and if they hear me tell them it's a problem before the game kicks off next time, they may think 'oh I'm low on energy so maybe we don't win today'.

"We're at home, there was a really good buzz around the stadium, the surface was good enough to play how we want to play, we have a good mentality and good spirit, so I don't understand it really."

Post-match reaction from John Mousinho

Meanwhile, Pompey boss John Mousinho said: "Good game of football I think, plenty of entertainment, plenty of goals, plenty of chances. I thought we were excellent in the first half and restricted Swansea to very little, really frustrated them and scored a couple of well-taken goals, so I thought we deserved the lead going into half-time.

"The big frustration was conceding just before half-time, the nature of it, not the cross and the goal itself, but the build up to it and we put ourselves under too much pressure with just a minute to go, so that was really frustrating.

"Second half was completely different, Swansea are a good side, and they cause teams loads of problems here and away from home.

"They turned the screw and, overall, I'm pleased to take the point and, on the balance, Swansea will be disappointed that they haven't won the game. We've come away with a point, and we'll go again next week."