'Almost faultless': Portsmouth boss hails stunning 5-1 demolition of Gillingham as brilliant Blues march on

John Mousinho was delighted with Pompey's stunning second half display in their 5-1 win over Gillingham. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImages

The Blues’ head coach was delighted with superb 5-1 demolition of Gillingham in front of an appreciative Fratton Park.

The managerless League Two side ventured to the south coast for the EFL Trophy and were holding Pompey to a 1-1 draw at the break.

But a brilliant second half with goals from Ben Stevenson, Kusini Yengi, Abu Kamara and Ryley Towler earned the hosts victory at the competition’s group stages.

And Mousinho sung the praises of that powerful second 45 minutes from the League One leaders.

He told The News: ‘Describing the second-half performance as ‘almost faultless’ is pretty close to being accurate.

‘We were ruthless in front of goal, we created chances, we switched the ball well, we kept possession, we pressed from the front really well and were aggressive in how we did that.

‘We conceded one shot towards the end, just switching off defensively, and that was my own criticism of the second half. Apart from that I thought we were excellent.

‘We came into this competition wanting to be extremely competitive and putting out 11 pros who are vying for spots in the first-team throughout the season. Only Kusini (Yengi) hasn’t started a league game.

‘We have made more changes previously in this competition, but we had a few players that needed the minutes, such as the likes of Jack Sparkes, who has been excellent in the league side and it was really important for him to pick up minutes,

‘There were players who haven't played a huge amount of football. One of the consistent things I’ve been trying to knock into the lads is firstly you’ve got to be ready when called upon and then you have to make our job difficult when selecting the side – which they did.

‘We know how strong the squad is, we built it this way for a reason. When we have suspensions, injuries and drops of form, we have players that can come in.’

Noticeably eight-goal Colby Bishop was not included in Pompey's 18-man squad against the Gills.

Although Mousinho allayed any fears over the reasons behind his absence.

He added: Colby was rested, he’s absolutely fine, there’s nothing to worry about there.

‘He trained this morning and I thought it was wise to leave him out tonight.’