Report by Ben Davis

When you're down you get kicked in the teeth, that's how Keith Waldon will feel after his team lost the game in the very last minute to a Joey Beauchamp goal. Pompey had fully matched their hosts and defended far more impressively than in recent games with Knight also in fine form, but with the players tiring out Oxford struck to leave the club rooted still further at the bottom of the league.
New loan signing Steve Claridge made his debut for his hometown club and he partnered John Durnin up front with Aloisi settling for a place on the bench. Andy Awford failed a fitness test so Russell Perrett came in for him. The fans were delighted to see Jimmy Carter start with Craig Foster dropping down to the bench to make way for the winger.
Claridge typically had his socks rolled down to his ankles, wearing two different makes of boot and his hair in a mess. He tried to set McLoughlin into the Oxford area early on with a flick-on which was cut out by the home side's defenders. Oxford's Murphy was then allowed to pull Perrett to the floor and run through on goal, but he curled the shot wide with the Pompey players protesting over the foul.
Pompey looked the more confident with Claridge unsettling the Oxford defenders with his endless running. On 17 minutes Thomson brought the ball forward and played a delightful ball over the defence for Claridge whose shot from the edge of the area looped over Whitehead and on to the top of the cross-bar into the fans behind the goal.
Oxford though bounced back with the dangerous Beauchamp drilling in a fierce free-kick which Knight saved well and did even better to pounce on the loose ball before Jemson could score. Massey was working hard on the right wing and Beauchamp's passes sent him into the area but hit a shot high over the bar.
Carter, who was making his first full appearance for nearly nine months, showed he had not lost his trickery when he constantly gave the Oxford defence a difficult time. On 23 minutes he slipped past Beauchamp before sending in a cross which Claridge met but sent a header over when he should have done better. Oxford were now getting more and more into the game and Knight had to be alert on 31 minutes when Thomson's clearance hit Perrett and let Murphy in but the keeper was quickly out to smother the ball.
The luck which was eluding Pompey in recent matches came when five minutes from the break Whitehead picked up Purse's backpass. It looked as though he had deliberately thighed the ball to his keeper which is allowed, but Mr Streeton saw it differently and awarded Pompey an indirect free-kick around the penalty spot. The massed wall of yellow shirts blocked Simpson's shot from McLoughlin's lay off.
A clever flick by Durnin then found Claridge who span his man and volleyed a shot straight at Whitehead. Durnin was then brilliantly denied by Whitehead when from Knight's long goal-kick the former Oxford man got in a volley from 30-yards which almost caught the keeper out but he clawed the shot around the post for a corner. That came to nothing with Whitbread heading over from Simpson's cross. Late in the half Thomson's clearance this time crashed off Murphy and the rebound looped, fortunately for Pompey, over Knight's bar.
Who will be the next manager has been on the lips of all Pompey fans for the past few weeks. Gerry Francis has reportedly had an interview with Martin Gregory and the former spurs boss had sent his number two Roger Cross to the Manor Ground to see how Pompey got on. They cleared an early corner and had Durnin not trod on the ball and lost possession from Claridge's cushioned header he might have been in on goal for a chance.
The two players making their first appearances of the season, Carter and Claridge, were causing the Oxford defence no end of problems and from a Carter pass McLoughlin drove a shot just wide of Whitehead's goal. At the other end Knight's punching was working well as he continually elected to punch clear dangerous crosses by Beauchamp. The winger had a great chance though when he received a return pass from Murphy but with only Knight in front of him he kicked the floor rather than the ball and the opportunity went.
In the 69th minute McLoughlin appeared to be bundled over by Purse in the area but Mr Streeton waved play on to the annoyance of the Pompey players and fans. Durnin wasted a glorious chance to score when from Hall's cross Claridge did well to hold off two defenders and lay a square ball to the striker. He only had Whitehead to beat but side footed a shot wide to his frustration.
It seemed neither team would break the deadlock with Knight in inspired form and Pompey's, at times, light weight attack. Yet Jemson thought he had scored in the 78th minute when from another Beauchamp cross his header from 4-yards was brilliantly turned over by Knight. Pompey had yet to make a substitution which was surprising considering some of the players were looking tried, particularly Claridge who had worked very hard for the club he supported as a boy.
It was perhaps inevitable then that in the last minute Oxford stole all three points. Oxford substitute Angel found space down the right and put in a cross which Beauchamp shot low in-between Knight's legs. Aloisi came on for Waterman but it seemed strange why he had not come on earlier as now all hope of rescuing the game was gone. The players looked down and out and after the match Keith Waldon said he was very disappointed with the result considering his side had matched Oxford stride for stride.