Football May 03, 2026

Portsmouth 1-1 Birmingham City: Adrian Segecic nets again for Pompey in final-day draw

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By Admin
Sports Journalist
Portsmouth 1-1 Birmingham City: Adrian Segecic nets again for Pompey in final-day draw

Adrian Segecic's excellent end-of-season form continued as Portsmouth played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Birmingham at Fratton Park.

The south-coast club took the lead after only eight minutes when the in-form Segecic fired home from 12 yards from Jordan Williams' cross.

It was the Australian-born Croatian's 11th goal of his maiden Sky Bet Championship season and fifth in his last three games.

Jay Stansfield should have equalised when he put a free header wide from a corner before Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle saved at the feet of Segecic.

The visitors did hit back in the 19th minute thanks to August Priske's far-post header from Kai Wagner's corner.

Portsmouth lost midfielder John Swift to injury midway through the first half.

Stand-in Pompey goalkeeper Ben Killip made a save to deny Ibrahim Osman from a tight angle as Birmingham ended the first half strongly.

Killip saved well to keep out Carlos Vicente's sharp left-foot shot from the centre of the penalty area and on the stroke of half-time Pompey substitute Conor Chaplin shot narrowly wide from long range.

Osman missed a golden chance seven minutes into the second half when he failed to hit the target from Bright Osayi-Samuel's inviting cross.

Beadle then made a fine reaction stop to prevent Chaplin's well-struck 20-yard volley from putting Pompey back in front.

The hosts felt they should have had a penalty when Segecic was brought down by Vicente but referee John Brooks decided the challenge was outside the box and gave only a free-kick.

Segecic sparked controversy 10 minutes from time when he fired just over after chasing the ball down after Pompey had returned it to Birmingham following a stoppage for an injury to the visitors' Christoph Klarer.

Following a melee, during which a home fan ran onto the pitch, Segecic was shown a yellow card.

Birmingham midfielder Tommy Doyle's 88th-minute effort from wide on the edge of the box was as close as either team came to a late winner.

The result means Portsmouth end the season with just one defeat in their final eight games, although doubts remain over whether manager John Mousinho will opt to leave the club this summer.

Mousinho, who met the Pompey owners this week to discuss their plans for the future, was serenaded with chants of 'one more year' from the home supporters.

Birmingham finished their first campaign back in the second tier in a respectable 10th place. Pompey finished 18th, eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Portsmouth's John Mousinho:

"The meetings were nothing about me. We have not discussed my future once, quite rightly. It is all about the club and working together.

"It's close to £60million the owners have put into the club.

"They have always been willing to back us, but the difficulty is the Championship and that bite point between how much we spend and the risk of destabilising the club.

"We are going to try and come up with a solution, but the talks were about what we want to do with the football club over the next three to five years.

"In terms of today I thought we played well in patches, started well and got the goal we deserved.

"Individually the performance was pretty good but my issue was a lack of quality at times when the ball broke down.

"We could have lost, could have won and everything in between, so a point was probably a fair result."

Birmingham's Chris Davies:

"I think it's been a season of real growth for us all in the club.

"It was a real unknown coming back into the Championship, so for us to come up as a club and compete like we have done and finish 10th is something we should be really proud of.

"It's been 10 years since the club has achieved that, so I'm proud of the players and I thank them for their efforts.

"I think we were the better team throughout the game. We started a little bit slowly and conceded a poor goal but grew back into it.

"We carried a threat throughout the match and had two or three big chances, so I'm disappointed we didn't actually end up winning that game with how we played."

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