The goals will come, vows upbeat Cowley
Blues boss confident team will start scoring following Walker’s arrival
DANNY COWLEY is convinced Pompey are close to adding that missing goal touch to their game, despite drawing a Plough Lane blank.
The Blues were held to a goalless draw at AFC Wimbledon last night after producing a disappointing performance.
Although fielding debutant Tyler Walker in attack alongside George Hirst, Cowley’s men failed to test Dons keeper Nik Tzanev sufficiently, particularly in the first half.
The Blues have netted just 29 times in 25 League One fixtures so far this season – with only Shrewsbury having scored fewer among clubs outside the bottom three.
Clearly goalscoring is threatening Pompey’s playoff ambition this season – but Cowley was encouraged by their attacking intent at Wimbledon.
He told The News: ‘We have to keep trying to work on the quality in the final action.
‘We are getting into the final third regularly, game in, game out, and we just have to try to improve our quality in and around that area.
‘I have a feeling, with the recruitment we have made in the last 48 hours, that the quality will come and the goals will come.
‘If we weren’t creating chances then I worry about my teams, but I see us creating chances and enough opportunities.
‘We are disappointed not to find the winning goal in a game we dominated for large periods – and we created enough chances.
‘But I’ve a good feeling that those little bits of quality – which maybe we have lacked in recent weeks – will come.
‘We just have to keep working. We are close to being a good team, but are not a good team yet.’
Pompey remain ninth in League One following last night’s draw.
They are now five points adrift of the final playoff spot, which is currently occupied by Plymouth.
But Cowley felt the Blues did enough to triumph over a Dons side lying just outside the relegation zone.
He added: ‘For sure we did enough to win. ‘We had a tough start, which is credit to AFC Wimbledon, who had energy and intensity. You have to earn the right away from home, it doesn’t matter who you are. ‘I thought after 20 minutes we got dominance in the game and had a strong end to the
29
Pompey have scored 29 goals in 25 League One matches so far this season
first half. We nearly scored, should have scored, but heroic defending on the goalline just stopped us before half time.
‘In the second half we came out and controlled the game and had some good chances.
‘Mahlon (Romeo) hits the bar, Tyler has one, Ronan (Curtis) has one, Raggs (Sean Raggett) has a great header and the keeper made a similar save to the one the MK Dons goalkeeper made on Saturday.’