Portsmouth boss underlines ‘decent point’ position in face of fan flak after Oxford United comments

And the Blues boss believes his post-match views stand up to inspection since assuming the Fratton hot seat.

Mousinho faced criticism from some supporters for a ‘decent point’ soundbyte after the 1-1 draw on Tuesday, against opposition fighting for survival and winless in 16.

The head coach reiterated he was talking about the result in isolation and was frustrated about the outcome, as any lingering hopes of reaching the play-offs were all but put to bed. But fans disappointed at recent points being dropped across four draws made their feelings known, both at the Kassam Stadium and in the wake of the game.

Mousinho made it clear he echoed that sentiment, both in terms of not turning the past four draws into wins and the result against Liam Manning’s side. But he feels he has nothing to apologise for in terms of his post-match comments.

Mousinho said: ‘I was talking about a decent point and I said if you take that (result) out of context, I stick by that.

‘I think if you go to places like Oxford in a normal season, a normal situation sometimes taking a point can be a decent point depending on what the circumstances are. So I won’t back down from what I said the other night, I completely stand by it.

‘People can take my comments in whatever context they want. My point was taking that (result) out of context. In the context of what we were trying to achieve, a push for the play-offs, we weren’t able to do that. So there was a huge amount of disappointment around the place.

‘We did try to win the game and our last substitution was relatively attacking, in a game where I didn’t really think it suited the shape and the way we were playing. But we did try to get an extra striker on to the pitch to win the game.

‘We were definitely trying to win all four of those games, possibly with the exception of the MK one at the end because it looked like it may be a good point. That was the only point I was trying to make, and I guess the context of that was a point at Oxford isn’t the reason we aren’t getting into the play-offs.’

Mousinho has maintained a pattern of producing a level-headed post-match press debrief in his three months in charge of Pompey. That has seen him praise his players where he felt it was warranted - and criticise their showings where necessary.

The 36-year-old feels separating his side’s performances from results in balanced fashion is a necessary part of his job.

Mousinho added: ‘To be honest, I think I’ve been relatively consistent in my post-match views in games.

‘I didn’t think we were particularly good at Bristol Rovers and I didn’t think we were particularly good at Accrington, but we won those games. I don’t look at it, but I’d guess the reaction over those two games on social medial was very different (to Tuesday).

‘We need to be a bit more objective in the staff office and consistent across the games - and say actually we know we need to improve.

‘There were spells in our last four games where I actually felt we were better than in games where we’ve come away from the result. That’s football and it’s the result that counts, but we need to make sure we take a well-rounded approach to that.’