‘Worst’ Admission ‘- Portsmouth boss John Mousinho Verdict despite five straight wins for League One leaders

The Blues defeated Port Vale 2-0, with Colby Bishop scoring twice in five minutes.

Both goals came in a much-improved second-half performance after a ‘worst’ first 45 minutes in a long time, according to the head coach.
Indeed, the visitors hit the crossbar and should have gone into halftime with a comfortable lead rather than the goalless draw.

And, happily, Pompey responded after the break to maintain their lead in League One.

‘It was a hard game to navigate for us, and I was genuinely dissatisfied with that first half,’ he told The News.

‘That was perhaps the worst first half we’ve played in a long time, but we had more urgency and aggression in the second half. It was like chalk and cheese.’I make a distinction between when we go in at half-time a goal down, as we did the other night against Wycombe, but we had played very well, so I didn’t mind.Against Port Vale, the score was 0-0, but I was unhappy with the way we were playing; the players knew it, and they didn’t feel they were performing to their full capacity.

‘We weren’t terrific in the first half, and a lot of it was due to Port Vale and how well they played and how effectively they defended.’

Given how difficult they made it for us – but there were many things we could have done better.
‘We didn’t move the ball quickly enough, we got trapped between playing and going a little longer, and Port Vale caused us a lot of issues, particularly down their right-hand side.
‘We had to regroup at halftime, and I’m extremely pleased with how strong we came out. Then, when we scored, we went again.’

The Blues went into the game knowing Oxford United had defeated Bristol Rovers 2-1 earlier in the day.

That meant a victory at Fratton Park was essential to reclaim first place, which Mousinho’s side eventually did.

‘The highs of Tuesday night just happened,’ he added.

Tuesday night’s highs simply made it tough to come down on Saturday.
‘We had a very different proposition in a well-organized Port Vale, and sometimes in this game you just have to wait and be patient.’