Danny Cowley: Swindon was painful - Portsmouth have not been good enough yet again

A 3-1 defeat at a Swindon side previously bottom of League One represented one point from a possible 12 in recent weeks.

It leaves the stuttering Blues adrift of the play-off spots and barely looking capable of forcing their way back in with four matches remaining.

To make matters worse, former Fratton favourite Brett Pitman was the chief destroyer, with two goals for the Robins.

And Cowley admitted the latest blow for his injury-hit side had been ‘painful’.

He said: ‘My overriding emotion is obviously disappointment, we didn’t do well enough in the decisive moments in the game at both ends.

‘I thought we had clear control and dominance between the boxes, for us to concede three goals with that much control – more than 75 per cent possession – and them having only 11 touches in our box, that’s pretty painful.

‘Also, offensively we got into the final third on numerous occasions, with some really good play, but lacked the final action.

‘If you don’t do well in the key areas of the pitch then you don’t win games – and that’s the reality.

‘It’s a great job and a brilliant club, but it’s also a huge challenge, there’s no hiding place from that.

‘We haven’t done well enough in the last four games.

‘I am always going to try to come out here and speak the truth – and we haven’t been good enough and come up short. That is as a collective, we all take responsibility, me more than anyone.

‘In all four games, we could have won. We are talking small margins, but we want something better for this football club than talking about small margins in League One.

‘We think we can get to a place where we don’t have to worry about small margins and we’re not there at the moment.’

Ronan Curtis netted Pompey’s consolation in the County Ground defeat.

Now the Blues prepare to face another struggling side – Joey Barton’s Bristol Rovers – at Fratton Park on Saturday.

Pompey’s head coach added: ‘I do actually think today we made progress with the mindset of the group, the togetherness.

‘Even though we lost, I saw a group that were fighting for each other and showed much more spirit, which I liked.

‘But, ultimately, at both ends we didn’t do well enough.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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