We should have finished Portsmouth off says Albion boss Tony Mowbray

Dec 8 2008 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail

TONY Mowbray bemoaned Albion’s inability to kill off the game against Portsmouth.

The manager was disappointed to see Albion squander a series of chances before and after Jonathan Greening’s 39th-minute goal.

He said: “I enjoyed the first half. I think we deserved a second goal and yet it didn’t come. That potentially makes the second half more edgy for us. When you haven’t won for a while these games can become edgy.

“But I thought we were pretty comfortable for most of the game. I can’t remember Scott Carson making too many saves, even when they did start pressing and Johnson was bombing on from right-back, which gave us a few problems.

“Ultimately it was our inability to score a second goal when we were on top that cost us.

“Credit to them, it was a terrific strike. I know it took a deflection that made it dip over Carson and go in but that is the Premier League.

“It was a frustrating day for us. There were spells in the first half where we deserved a second goal and yet you could feel the quality they had.

“Glen Johnson had a great chance he side footed over and Carson has half fumbled a cross, but I think that was it from them. Yet the frustration is we didn’t have the ultimate quality to go and finish them off.”