Rose agonises over Pompey inconsistency

A woeful second-half display against Stevenage inflicted a 2-1 Fratton Park loss on Saturday.

Frustratingly, the scoreline followed an outstanding victory at rivals Luton in the week.

Last term, a number of impressive results were followed by abject showings as the Blues finished in the play-offs.

It seems that trait has not gone away, with the Fratton faithful served up yet another result to dishearten.

And Rose admitted he was at a loss to pinpoint the reasons behind Pompey’s erratic nature.

He said: ‘In the dressing room we spoke about the inconsistency and I know it was highlighted in the media how good last year’s Accrington performance was only to come back and lose.

‘For that issue to still be lingering around is not great.

‘Although I am sure we are not the only club it happens to.

‘There is no reason why really, it’s a difficult one to explain why we came from such a high to such a low in terms of results.

‘Sometimes you cannot control how you perform in terms of the quality you produce, what you can control is how hard you work.

‘I am not saying the lads didn’t work hard on Saturday, because we did, but sometimes it just happens and you don’t produce at the top of the pitch.

‘I am not sure if that many people had off-days against Stevenage, it just didn’t happen for us in terms of creating opportunities and creating chances and we have got to get back to keeping clean sheets.

‘There is only one way to right those wrongs and that is by going on another unbeaten run again.’

Pompey were undone by two goals in four minutes, Steven Schumacher and Matt Godden scoring for the visitors.

Michael Smith pulled one back 10 minutes from time but, despite Jack Whatmough heading against a post, the Blues didn’t do enough to level.

During that second half they were also without skipper Michael Doyle and defender Christian Burgess following a dressing-room fight at the interval.

Rose had been instructed by the club not to talk about that incident during his post-match interviews.

Overall, though, he didn’t believe Pompey warranted much from the game.

He added: ‘On the balance of play a draw would probably have been a fair result.

‘However, given the level of performance we produced, we know we were nowhere near our best and didn’t deserve a lot.

‘Even though we could have nicked a point at the end with Jack hitting the post, you cannot give yourself those mountains to climb and think you can get to the top.’