Triumph showed good and bad in us – Cowley
Up-and-down display in Trophy victory reflects team, admits Blues boss
DANNY COWLEY reflected on a dramatic Pompey triumph at Exeter and admitted: I don’t know whether to cuddle them or strangle them.
Ronan Curtis struck twice at the death to overhaul a 2-1 scoreline and claim what appeared to be an improbable 3-2 success in last night’s Papa John’s Trophy secondround fixture.
League Two side Exeter will certainly be aggrieved, with Archie Collins’ 76th-minute strike seemingly handing them a richly deserved victory.
After a bright first half in which Pompey crucially failed to take their many goalscoring chances, Exeter upped their game after the break and were by far the better team.
Yet somehow Cowley’s men stole the win, with substitute Curtis netting twice to end a two-and-a-half-month goal drought.
Cowley told The News: ‘That is probably a performance which reflects our team.
‘Everything that’s good about it – and also everything that’s bad about it.
‘We managed to win it at the death, but nothing surprises me with this group.
‘I said to them in the dressing room, sometimes I don’t know whether to cuddle them or strangle them, that’s how they make me feel.
‘They can take you to the heights and they can also take you to the depths – and that’s something that we’ve got to look at.
‘Our performance really reflects our attitude and I just thought there’s a really good lesson to take from Exeter.
‘We are pleased we won and pleased with the spirit shown.
‘You have to show a lot of spirit and a lot of resilience to come from behind to win at a place like Exeter.’
Pompey will now travel to League One rivals Cambridge United on Tuesday (7pm) in the last 16.
The winners will then head to Rotherham for the quarter-finals in the week beginning January 24 as clubs scramble to make up for lost time.
Cowley added: ‘Against Exeter, I thought the first half we were excellent and had such control and rhythm, we had real dominance, created chances at will. ‘Unfortunately it wasn’t clinical, we lacked a ruthless edge in front of goal. ‘We then lost our way and that was incredibly disappointing after playing so well in the first half.
‘Then, probably on 80 minutes, we finally found a bit of intensity in our performance.
‘That’s when we looked much more purposeful.
‘Ronan scored what really was a really important goal for him – and, typical of him, he then backed it up with another goal quite quickly afterwards.’