Portsmouth vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
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Portsmouth 1-0 Blackburn Rovers: Josh Murphy strikes vital winner for Pompey
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers at Fratton Park on Saturday; Josh Murphy strikes vital winner for Pompey as they ease further from bottom three.
Saturday 29 March 2025 18:18, UK
Josh Murphy's cool first-half strike gave Portsmouth a 1-0 victory over Blackburn to add weight to their survival chances and put a dent in Rovers' play-off hopes.
Murphy's superb one-two and finish lit up a low-quality affair which condemned Valerien Ismael's Blackburn to a fourth straight defeat and extended his winless start as Rovers manager.
Ismael is now five matches without a win since replacing John Eustace - who failed to record a victory in any of his first 10 games - with Blackburn now five points adrift of the top six after dropping to 11th.
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Portsmouth, meanwhile, ended a two-match losing run to pull out a seven-point buffer on the relegation zone.
Pompey have scored 19 points at home since the turn of the year, more than anyone else in the Championship, so it was no surprise when they opened the scoring.
A shot-less opening 20 minutes was broken by Murphy's seventh goal of the season. Andre Dozzell picked up on a loose defensive header before playing the ball to the winger, who got into the box via a one-two with Colby Bishop before beautifully curling into the bottom corner.
Rovers attempted to bounce straight back and Ryan Hedges, a 13th-minute substitute, bounded into the penalty area but his fierce effort was saved by Nicolas Schmid at the near post.
Murphy then had Pompey's second and last shot of the first half when he drilled a low effort from 25 yards, but Aynsley Pears easily gathered on the dive.
The hosts edged the midfield battle but it was Rovers who had the better chances on the approach to half-time.
Cauley Woodrow, on his first Blackburn start since arriving on loan from Luton, thought he had caught Schmid out from 45 yards but the goalkeeper recovered to catch the lob.
Woodrow then produced a stunning cross to the back post but ex-Portsmouth loanee Hayden Carter could not squeeze the ball in.
Yuki Ohashi barely made Schmid work with a tame header and Lewis Travis skied over the bar from the edge of the area as Rovers continued to lack quality after the break.
Carter also cleared the goal after a fine passing move, while Terry Devlin ended a 45-minute wait for a shot by having an effort deflected just wide.
Blackburn had plenty of the ball in the second half but loose passes cost them whenever they threatened, with their last shot coming in the 67th minute.
And Pompey could have grabbed a late second when a defensive mix-up gave Devlin a chance to capitalise, but the ball would not fall for him.
The managers
Portsmouth's John Mousinho:
"It's a big win, there's no doubt about that, and I don't want to dampen the spirits. We needed that on the back of two losses.
"We need to learn our lesson that there are clubs at the bottom who are going to pick up points and wins. We've seen it with Plymouth and Luton and other sides.
"It's going to be incredibly tight and sides are going to pick up points. We have to make that irrelevant by doing the job ourselves.
"We have seen how quickly things change so we need to be right on it with everything we do, not get complacent and keep picking up points.
"The second we will relax is the moment we are mathematically safe."
Blackburn's Valerien Ismael:
"The first thing we need to do is win a game. It is step-by-step, but while you are not winning games you can talk as much as you want, but it is frustrating.
"It has been the picture in many games. We are trying to implement the belief, how we want to play and create a new habit. The first thing is to keep a clean sheet and stay in the game.
"We have to stay positive. The main focus is the next game and to win three points. When you get the three points the feeling will come back.
"At the minute I'm just thinking about the next game and to win a game. If you are not winning games you can't talk about the next step.
"Today was a big disappointment, especially how we approached the first half. We expected much more.
"We know it takes time but the players need to believe more because they have the quality."
