• 8 hours ago
John Mousinho delivers his assessment on Pompey's 2-1 victory against Cardiff.
Transcript
00:00John, another big home victory for your team. You keep racking them up at the moment, don't
00:07you?
00:08Yes, we haven't won in a couple of home games going into this, so we needed to make sure
00:12that we were off the back of a really positive performance at the weekend. The first thing
00:16we needed to do was to back that up with a win today, which we did. The performance wasn't
00:20quite as positive, but when the dust settles, I'd much rather be talking to you here with
00:25three points in the bag rather than waxing lyrical about how good we were but not coming
00:28away with the win.
00:29A racing start as well helped, didn't it?
00:31Yes, we started as we have been starting at home. We were starting really well, starting
00:35on the front foot. It was great to go two goals up, and then I thought in a strange
00:40way that that didn't help us from then on because I thought that we thought it was going
00:44to be a bit easy. We dropped off, we weren't tracking runners, we weren't energetic enough
00:47when the ball went dead, we didn't press well enough, and it was a bit disappointing.
00:51It was really disappointing, you can probably tell my frustration from the sidelines. At
00:55the end of the first half, I actually felt we needed to get in at 2-1 and escape with
01:00that and go again in the second half.
01:01So, your team talked at half-time and you weren't happy with the team?
01:04I was furious, not frustrated. I was frustrated, I was absolutely furious with the way we responded
01:09to going two goals up. You get punished at any level if you think you can not do the
01:14basics of the game well, which I didn't think we did for the last 25 minutes of the half,
01:18so yes, I was furious.
01:19The second half, though, you had chances to wrap it up as well, didn't you?
01:22I thought we were much better. We did still a few strange things, but I thought we got
01:27the press a lot better, we competed much better, we picked up second balls and we restricted
01:33Cardiff to very few chances, I think, until the game opened up towards the back end. I
01:37can't actually remember Nico having anything to do until he made the save from Robinson,
01:40so that was pleasing and the only criticism I think I have in the second half is we didn't
01:45put the ball in the back of the net.
01:46Colby Bishop tonight, obviously people were questioning him at the weekend and he rose
01:51to the occasion superbly, didn't he?
01:53Yes, it was almost inevitable, I think, and Colby scored his 50th goal up in time for
01:57Portsmouth in two and a half seasons, half of one of those seasons he's been out with
02:03major heart surgery, so an incredible achievement. If you look at that, just on its own, an incredible
02:07achievement to get those 50 goals, even better when you look at the circumstances. I'm absolutely
02:12delighted for him. He scored a huge amount since I've come into the football club, some
02:15really, really important goals and off the back of the questions being raised over him,
02:19I never had any concerns, so I'm really delighted that he put the ball in the back of the net,
02:23really good finish as well.
02:24Is he one of those players that the more people question him, he just wants to prove people
02:27wrong?
02:28Maybe, yes, I think he can do a lot. I think he gets praise and he scores. I think people
02:33question him and he scores. I think he flies on the radar and he scores and if he doesn't
02:37score he puts in a hell of a performance and he puts in a hell of a shift. We have asked
02:41him to go again today for the full 90 minutes and I thought he was superb.
02:45What's the situation with Colin Shotgrenson?
02:47He's felt his hamstring. We don't have the prognosis on it now, so obviously disappointed
02:51with that, but we'll see how that settles down and scan him tomorrow and go from there.
02:54You could see he was very upset when he came off as well.
02:57Yes, he's spent such a long time in his rehab getting back to the position he's in and having
03:02played the games that he's played. He played last week against Burnley, he obviously got
03:05through there and got through the game at the weekend as well. So, yes, we're obviously
03:10not particularly pleased for Conor, but we'll have to see what happens. I actually thought
03:15Hayden came in and did really well.
03:17What's the process now? Will he undergo a scan tomorrow?
03:20If we can get one in tomorrow, we'll get one in as soon as possible. The scan is one thing
03:26and the scan gives us an indication of time that he's out, but more importantly we just
03:31treat the player and see how he is.

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