Portsmouth manager befuddled by penalty call – says they should have beaten Sheffield Wednesday

Wednesday were twice ahead in the fixture before Pompey took a 3-2 lead in the second half to turn the clash on its head.

But Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s second of the match rescued a point for the Owls, leaving both sides confused as to how they weren’t able to take full points from the fixture.

Speaking after the match, Cowley made clear he was pleased with the effort of his players in coming back from a first half in which the home side were dominant.

He said: “Wednesday have signed some fantastic players for this level and you have to consider that we’ve just come together as a group.

“There was an obvious penalty for us – I don’t really know what to say because Dane Scarlett has been kicked in the head.

“It wasn’t given and so you have to swallow that, but my overriding emotion was of pride for the group because we showed plenty of substance.”

“I’m disappointed we didn’t win,” Cowley continued.

“We went into the lead – and then conceded the third goal with nine minutes to go. I feel sorry for the players.

“We are down to 10 men. From the set-piece we had only 10 men on the pitch, we had a player less.

“They put an extra one into the box and we conceded, so it’s really frustrating, I feel for the players.”