A bittersweet evening for Portsmouth goal scorer after ‘frustrating’ draw against Oxford United

Despite being on the scoresheet, the striker insisted he was ‘dreadful’ on a night where the Blues dropped further points in their promotion chase.

Danny Cowley’s men were unable to find a winning edge after the 25-year-old levelled the tie in the second half.

The injury-hit Pompey side found themselves 1-0 down after 16 minutes, when summer target Kyle Joseph fiercely struck past Josh Griffiths to fire the visitors ahead.

Despite an underwhelming first period, the Blues were given a helpful lifeline when Billy Bodin was sent off with 18 minutes remaining.

Although they found an equaliser, the hosts were unable to find a winner in a difficult night under the lights at Fratton Park.

Bishop admitted his side weren’t good enough in the first period but was frustrated they didn’t come away with three points.

‘It was frustrating not to get a winner in that,’ he told The News.

‘I think we kept knocking on the door at the end but couldn’t quite find the winner.

‘I think it’s frustrating that we couldn’t break them down when they went down to 10 men but sometimes it happens and sometimes you need a lucky deflection. They put some very good blocks off but we’ve got to win that.

‘I think sometimes as football players you know when you're not good enough. We all went into the changing room and thought we weren’t good enough.

‘Sometimes it doesn’t take much to be told that we had to be better and when we came out in the second half we were better.

‘I think we’ve had passages where we’ve been scoring goals for fun, you’re going to have times in the season where you’re going to drop off a little bit but we’ve got more than enough ability in this group to go again.’

It was a bittersweet evening for Bishop who netted his ninth goal of the campaign after just 15 appearances.

Yet, the striker felt his performance was well-below his standards despite getting on the scoresheet.

‘I’m not happy at all because I thought I was dreadful tonight!’ He jokingly added.

‘It’s nice to score a goal but I was nowhere near as good as what I can be, which is frustrating but you have nights like that.

‘It’s obviously nice to get a goal but I’m still not happy.’