Pompey boss scraps day off in hunt for answers

In the aftermath of the awful 3-1 defeat at Southend, the Blues squad were summoned to the training ground yesterday.

Despite having been allocated a rest day, Jackett talked his players through footage of their Roots Hall errors, before plotting the downfall of Fleetwood.

It is 12 matches without a clean sheet as Pompey head to the Highbury Stadium tomorrow night (7.45pm).

And Brandon Haunstrup revealed the full extent of the thorough inquest held following their weekend defeat.

The left-back said: ‘We have been going through a lot of team shapes defensively-wise, making sure we are solid and getting our starting positions right.

‘We were supposed to have the Sunday off, but the gaffer made sure we were in so we could go through Saturday’s game. Southend just wasn’t good enough and all the players accept that.

‘It lasted about an hour, going through the game, with the gaffer picking out highlights. Although, on Saturday it was obviously difficult to find good points.

‘We started well but the own goal was gutting. With a lot of goals there are mistakes building up to it – and there were also quite a few on Saturday.

‘Their goalkeeper had quite a good kick so we were dropping deep. If we had stayed high then they are offside and the ball travels through to Luke (McGee).

‘Going through footage like that is really beneficial, and something I have done since youth-team level.

‘You can take something out of it and realise what is going on and what you have to do next time.’

– NEIL ALLEN