Blackburn Rovers moved up the Championship table after securing a hard-fought point at Fratton Park. Tony Mowbray's side drew 2-2 with Portsmouth on Saturday, a result that lifts them from 18th to 16th position.
Oladapo Afolayan was instrumental, scoring one goal and setting up another. The forward, now the club's top scorer with three goals this season, cancelled out Zak Swanson's early opener for the hosts in the 11th minute. Ryoya Morishita then put Rovers ahead in the 56th minute, finishing after a loose clearance, but substitute Colby Bishop earned Portsmouth a share of the points with a 74th-minute equaliser.
Manager Tony Mowbray kept faith with the back-three system that delivered a win against Millwall the previous week. "Mowbray's big dilemma was whether to stick with the back three shape that proved effective against Millwall," he said. "He did and resisted the urge to recall top-scorer Andri Gudjohnsen, with Harry Pickering for the injured Yuri Ribeiro the only alteration."
The point ends a run of two consecutive away defeats at Fratton Park for Blackburn. They now have nine points from their opening eight league matches, with a goal difference of zero after scoring and conceding 12 times.
Further reading: onefootball.com
