Comment: The Pompey pain game

The people who will be aware exactly what went on in the Pompey dressing room at half-time on Saturday are likely to remain those present.

Whatever the minutiae of the bust-up during the break, there’s little doubt it proved key in the Blues falling to defeat to Stevenage.

Paul Cook deemed it necessary to remove both Christian Burgess and Michael Doyle following the Fratton fisticuffs.

And that had a knock-on effect which proved fundamental to Stevenage’s success.

Cook lost two members of the spine of his side with the pair’s withdrawl – arguably his key defender and midfielder.

Crucially, too, it restricted his ability to make attacking changes to chase the game.

Cook said before kick-off he could see pain coming for Pompey, but it’s unlikely he pictured this when he said it.

These incidents regularly take place in the game, but rarely come to light.

The Pompey boss deserves credit for his honesty and talking to supporters via The News about what happened.

That’s about the only positive to come out of a sorry and costly saga.