Burgess: No excuses for Pompey defeat

Such was the limp performance against Blackpool, around half of the 17,895 crowd had long departed before the final whistle.

Many could no longer stomach the 2-0 Fratton Park defeat, while those that remained booed off the Blues.

In contrast, days earlier Kenny Jackett’s men produced an excellent victory at Fleetwood, an encouraging showing from a youthful team.

On Saturday, Burgess was dispossessed by Kyle Vassell for the opener, before Clark Robertson sealed the win for the visitors in the 63rd minute.

It was the worst display of the Jackett regime, arriving almost a year after Paul Cook’s loss to Crewe in similarly abject circumstances.

And amid a crippling injury list and a reliance on youth, Burgess admitted it was not good enough from the Blues.

He said: ‘There are a lot of things that have changed recently.

‘We have been unfortunate with injuries and have lost some key players, perhaps that has dented some momentum at a bad time for us.

‘But you can’t make too many excuses, there is still enough talent out there to win games of football – as we showed Tuesday night.

‘So we’ve got to put it on and win.

‘Saturday was disappointing because I thought it wasn’t unbelievably uneven in the first half, although Blackpool probably shaded it.

‘But in the second half we never strung passes together and never quite got going to put them under any real amount of pressure.

‘Obviously it’s not ideal to concede first, but the second one is also disappointing because if they don’t get that we are still in it.

‘We have got to look at that second phase from a corner and do better as a unit, but we have plenty of boys out there learning as they grow and will take a lot of experience from that.

‘It was disappointing, I wouldn’t got so far as to say it was the worst performance, off the top of my head at this moment I cannot compare.’

Amid Pompey’s wretched display, there remain concerns over the current state of the Fratton Park pitch.

The playing surface was excellent during Cook’s time, the manager even insisting on it being watered hours before the match to improve its zip.

It is with an inevitably that a another harsh winter has had an impact on its current quality, with the surface presently uneven, prompting the ball to bobble on occasions.

Pompey’s next home game is against Gillingham on Saturday, March 10.

And Burgess is hopeful the pitch can repair itself during the time off before that fixture.

He added: ‘It’s a bit bobbly, but it’s always like that this time of year.

‘It gets a lot better soon as the weather improves, obviously we look forward to that.

‘But we have to find a way to win when the conditions are like that. Obviously it’s the same for both sides.

‘To win we probably need to make less mistakes on those days.’