‘Best in the league at it - we didn’t play poorly, Portsmouth played well’: Plymouth Argyle boss’ honest view after Fratton draw

Plymouth were once again pegged back late on by the Blues at a sellout Fratton Park in the 2-2 draw between the high-flying sides.

That came after Pompey had been the better side, before two quickfire goals put the Pilgrims in the ascendancy.

Schumacher felt it was the quality of Danny Cowley’s side over any deficiencies from his men which was behind the Blues’ dominance.

And he pointed to the intensity of his opponent’s press as a significant factor in the flow of the game.

He told Plymouth’s official site: ‘It’s déjà vu on déjà vu. It’s not a nice feeling to concede again in the 95th minute, but it’s a bit different to the other two.

‘We’ve had to dig in and show good character. We weren’t at our best with the ball but that’s credit to Portsmouth, the way they press, the way they get after you. They’re the best in the league at it, so far, on the data.

‘The character, and the response we got, was brilliant. I don’t think we played poorly, but I thought Portsmouth played well. They’ve been doing that all season. They are unbeaten for a reason.

‘They are in good form, we had to grind it out and dig in when it wasn’t going our way.

‘It was a tough game. We had to show real character and resilience to get back into it and go 2-1 up. The second goal in particular was a brilliant goal. Unfortunately, with a ball bouncing around our box, they are lucky to get on the end of it and it’s gone in.

‘A little bit of indiscipline from us with the red card, that should have been avoided, and then the goal might not have gone in because we would have had more players on the pitch to deal with it.

‘These are unbeaten. We wanted to be the first to take that scalp – we were a minute away from doing it. I’m pleased with that.

'Before the game, away from home, a top of the table clash it is important to not get beat. A point is a good result before the game, but the way it panned out, we thought we would have had enough to see it out.’

Schumacher felt the clash matched its billing as two of the top four sides met in League One after making strong starts this season.

He added: ‘I thought it was a good game. They probably had the first 25 or 30 minutes, we got back into it when we changed shape.

‘It was a top end of League One, exciting game. Loads for people to talk about, loads to write about, but the overall feeling is that we haven’t been beaten, it’s another positive result away from home, let’s move on to the next one and look forward to it.’