Danny Cowley reveals his blunt dressing room message to Portsmouth players after Fleetwood disappointment

That was the stark post-match message delivered by Danny Cowley in the Blues’ dressing room following Saturday’s 1-1 draw.

Pompey’s head coach described himself as ‘angry and frustrated’ after the disappointment of a point as they made it three league games without victory.

Cowley’s exasperation was compounded by the sides unable to be separated in the first half, despite Pompey’s dominance which saw them take an early lead.

Then, after the break, the hosts’ performance levels dropped, particularly in the final 25 minutes, as the fixture limped towards the full-time whistle.

For Cowley, it was unquestionably two points dropped – and lessons must be learnt if his players have promotion aspirations.

He told The News: ‘We are always concerned when we don’t win because we want to win, we are frustrated, that was a winnable game for us, we should win that match.

‘I’m really angry, really frustrated, that’s eight days now until our next game, it’s going to be a long eight days.

‘I told the players in the dressing room afterwards that we won’t be a successful team unless you win those games.

‘In that last 20-25 minutes we all got a bit frustrated – and we all have to be patient.

‘We started to force our play and that's why we weren’t as effective in the final parts of the game.

‘That’s unlike us, we like to play with the control and the rhythm and are a better team when we do that. We are not a good team when we play toss-of-the-coin football, hopeful football.

‘That’s what happened in the last 15 minutes, but if we defend properly and take our chances then the game’s out of sight.

‘The analysis around the game was how we lost our rhythm and shouldn’t have done because we had a good place in the match.

‘We spoke about both boxes and have to be more clinical at one end – and we can’t concede that goal.

‘You can argue we had four centre-halves on the pitch, we shouldn’t concede that goal – and it was the only time they were in our box in the first half.

‘It’s always collective, we win together, we lose together, but I am frustrated for everyone, the players and the staff and our supporters.’

Josh Koroma’s fourth Pompey goal since his deadline day arrival from Huddersfield handed them a seventh-minute lead in a blistering start.

However, poor defending allowed Carlos Mendes Gomes to equalise just eight minutes later.

Cowley added: ‘We had so much dominance in the game, should be 2-0 up and then concede a really soft goal. Even then we get going, but aren’t ruthless.

‘In the second half we had lost our momentum and tried to get it back. To be fair to the subs they came on when we didn’t have momentum.’

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