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Goalless Darmstadt draw can't dampen enthusiasm of brilliant Portsmouth faithful in final pre-season friendly More than 1,500 watched the Blues end their pre-season friendly schedule with a goalless draw at Darmstadt The Blues brought the curtain down of their pre-season friendly schedule with a goalless draw at SV Darmstadt. It was a vastly-improved display from John Mousinho’s men compared to last weekend’s defeat at Wycombe, while they were denied a deserved victory by opposition keeper Marcel Schulen. Particularly in the first half, the Darmstadt man kept the visitors at bay, while Colby Bishop struck the post with a header from a Terry Devlin cross. There was no such goal action after the break and, with eight substitutions, the flow of the match was inevitably impacted as it finished 0-0. Regardless, more than 1,500 travelling Pompey fans had a great time, remaining 45 minutes after the final whistle and continuing to sing for the team, as they had done throughout. Now they have a week before another new ground for the Blues - at West Ham - as the season proper kicks off with the Carabao Cup. New signing Luke Brooke-Smith came straight into Pompey’s side, starting alongside fellow newcomer Rocco Shein against Darmstadt. Meanwhile, Marko Milovanovic was included in his first Pompey squad, taking his place on a 12-man bench which also contained Daniel Bielica and triallist Arvin Appiah. Noticeably, Ibane Bowat was not part of the 23-man squad, despite being fit, while Josh Murphy continues his rehabilitation in England. Marlon Pack did travel, however, following knee surgery, although wasn’t named in the match-day squad on duty against the Germans. It took just two minutes for the Blues to register their first goal attempt after excellent work from Terry Devlin down the right, riding a challenge and then pulling the ball back to Shein. The Estonian international took a touch to switch it onto his left foot, before firing in an effort which drew a scrambling save from keeper Schuhen, marking the game’s first corner. Then, on seven minutes, another Devlin cross from the right was met with an excellent flying header from Colby Bishop, which struck Darmstadt’s left-hand post and bounced to safety. Certainly Schuhen was proving to be by far the busier of the two keepers during the first half and came to the hosts’ rescue with two saves in two minutes. Firstly, on 27 minutes, a lovely move saw Brooke-Smith link up with Shein and the latter pushed through a delightful pass to put Ebou Adams clear through in the left channel of the penalty area. However, the midfielder’s curling shot from the angle was pushed away by Schuhen, much to the Pompey’s man’s frustration. Next, Adrian Segecic cut in from the right and unleashed a left-footed shot which Darmstadt’s keeper beat out at his near post to keep the scoreline goalless. Mousinho made three changes at the break, with Brook-Smith, Zak Swanson and Le Roux replaced by Thomas Waddingham, Odin Bailey and Eoin Kenny. However, there was to be no replication of those first-half chances, with little action in either box to trouble the goalkeepers. And with the Blues bringing on eight substitutes overall, the final friendly of the summer finished goalless.