Simon Grayson pleased to see Blackpool maintain unbeaten start with Portsmouth draw

The Seasiders came from behind to pick up a third consecutive draw, Armand Gnanduillet heading home his fifth of the season in response to Marcus Harness' opener.

The result means Grayson's side have now won three and drawn three in League One.

“We would have liked to have won the game but we were up against a strong Portsmouth side," the Pool boss said.

“They’ve got people like John Marquis up front and strength in depth in their squad, so this was going to be a benchmark for us in terms of how far we’ve come as a club.

“I think it was a fair result in the end.

“I thought first 10 or 15 minutes we played quite well and we got off to a real, strong start. We got on the front foot and limited them to a few opportunities.

“But from then on we were a bit sloppy and possibly complacent. We were slow in possession and slow in stopping the opposition.

“Defenders make mistakes and when they do, they probably get punished and highlighted more.

“There were probably one or two players who made more mistakes in that first half than they have done for large parts of the season. But as as long as they’re trying to do the right things then I don’t have any complaints with it.

“I told them to increase the tempo and to get on the front foot because if we do that here at Bloomfield Road, the crowd will certainly stay with us.

“The fans were fantastic again and we looked a dominant team in the second half with their support.

“We still had to be careful of their counter attacks which nearly happened for them on a couple of occasions, but fortunately Jak Alnwick has made a couple of good stops.

“We showed some good character coming from behind again to get something out of the game.”