Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton takes another pop at Portsmouth's Danny Cowley - and menacingly looks forward to reunion with Blues further 'down the track'

Not satisfied with mocking the Blues manager’s playing credentials after a career spent in non-league before injury struck, the former Newcastle and Manchester City midfielder has also criticised the tactics currently being used by the 43-year-old.

And that’s also after attacking Cowley’s ‘nonsense’ behaviour during the game.

Pompey are currently operating with a 4-4-2 system under the former Lincoln and Huddersfield manager, after he deployed wing-backs for large chunks of last season.

The change, which was initially introduced towards the end of last term, has been accompanied by an unbeaten start to the current campaign and the Blues being joined by Peterborough as League One’s top scorers with 12 goals.

It also sees Cowley & Co sit third in the standings with 11 points from their five games played so far – 12 places and five points better off than Rovers, who were beaten 3-1 on their latest visit to Fratton Park.

Despite that, Barton believes it’s a formation that ‘doesn’t take you were you need to get to’, as he deliberately referenced ‘the Cowleys’.

And because of that opinion, he said the Gas will be passing the Blues along the way, before menacingly bringing up the return fixture between the sides later in the season.

When asked what pleased him most about his side’s performance on Saturday, the controversial figure told the Bristol Rovers media team: ‘We came into their stadium and took the ball off them.

‘You know, I knew in the first part of the game, the kind of problems that came up would come up because of the personnel we had out there.

‘But it was something I wanted to have a look at, something that has been on my mind for a bit.

‘I felt if we went into 4-3-3, which we’ve done, then they’d have bombarded us and we didn’t have the components for it.

‘And we’re a working progress.

‘Look, we’re putting our new band together after making some great albums and some great music last year.

‘And trust me, within a short period of time we’ll be ahead of Portsmouth.

‘They’re playing 4-4-2, the Cowleys. Sound. No problem.

‘It doesn’t take you were you need to get to, in my opinion.

‘But again, they beat us fair and square today (Saturday) and we’ll see them down the track.’

That game down the track will be on March 18, when Pompey travel to the Memorial Stadium.