Danny Cowley explains key tactical decision seen during Portsmouth’s draw at Bolton

Danny Cowley believes that it was a “brave” decision for Portsmouth to revert to a back four against Bolton Wanderers last night, in conversation with The News. 

Pompey, who played out a 1-1 draw at The University of Bolton Stadium last night, opened the scoring through Aiden O’Brien with 50 minutes on the clock, before Kieran Sadlier restored parity from the penalty spot with 15 minutes left to play. 

Cowley’s side had not scored in their last three games before last night’s draw, seeing their chances of securing a play-off spot diminishing. 

Speaking to Portsmouth-based outlet The News after last night’s point in Bolton, Cowley said: “I know you guys love talking about formations, but even when we play a back three we build with a back four, so it wasn’t actually that much change.

“We probably just changed a wing-back for an attacking player.

“It was brave because when you look at some of Bolton’s results here, they’ve beaten Sunderland 6-0 and AFC Wimbledon 4-0 and score goals at will.

“But we wanted to win, we had to win. We felt on the counter-attack that if we pressed high with that four then they would always be high up the pitch and we’d be able to play through to them.

“We looked at it pragmatically and picked a team we thought would help us win the game.

“I say brave because Bolton have struggled against back fives if you look at their results, so I suppose it was brave in that respect.

“But when we looked at the back fours they’ve played against, we defend differently from that anyway, so we didn’t think it was too relevant.

“Bolton have a huge pitch, it is really, really wide, and that suits the way they play. I can see why teams come here and play with the extra defender because you have so much space to