Davis delivers '˜diving' criticism to Thomas

The on-loan striker tumbled inside the box under a challenge from Kevin Bond in the 18th minute.

Izale McLeod stepped up to net from the resulting penalty, adding to Thomas’ earlier goal in Saturday’s Fratton Park win.

That two-goal lead proved unassailable for the visitors as Pompey made it 10 points from a possible 12 in recent weeks.

Davis, however, was seething over Thomas’ role in that second goal.

And he believes the front man made the most of Bond’s challenge.

He said: ‘It wasn’t a penalty. He (Bond) didn’t touch him for the second goal.

‘I thought he (Thomas) dived. If you watch it, you can see that he dived.

‘There was no contact, so I thought that was a poor decision.

‘In fact, I thought the performance of the referee (David Phillips) – all three officials really – was very incompetent for both teams.

‘He got a lot of decisions wrong and the goals changed the game.

‘We could have avoided the first one and the penalty certainly made a difference.

‘We could have gone in 1-0 down, even though we hadn’t played particularly well in the first half.

‘The lads came out and did better in the second half.

‘I sent them out to restore a bit of pride, and that is what they did without really creating any clear-cut opportunities to rescue something from the game.’

Crewe were, unquestionably, a different side after the break, bossing possession.

Despite their time on the ball, however, they struggled to break down Pompey.

And Davis believes their start was costly.

He added: ‘I had a little go at the players at half-time because we just didn’t start the game well enough.

‘We normally start games at a good tempo and we didn’t on Saturday.’