'Dark arts? That's a massive compliment': Why Portsmouth head coach is delighted with Stoke boss' 'bully' accusations

The Blues registered their sixth victory in seven Fratton Park matches on Wednesday night, with Stoke the latest in a lengthening line to suffer on the south coast.

In the aftermath of a 3-1 triumph, the Potters manager spoke of Pompey ‘bullying’ his side, with goalscorer Colby Bishop held up as a prime example.

Far from being offended by the claims, however, Mousinho viewed it as an acknowledgement of a crucial change in approach from his team - although he prefers to call it ‘professionalism’.

He told The News: ‘It’s a nice compliment, I think. I didn’t particularly come off the game thinking it was all about the dark arts, but I will take that as a massive compliment.

‘Sometimes at points this season we have looked at the way that oppositions play against us and think we’ve been a bit naive and they have controlled games.

‘West Brom at Fratton Park was one. Good footballers, don’t get me wrong, but I thought they were really, really well-organised, clever at what they do, smart, and I looked at that with a bit of envy.

‘So it’s nice we have progressed where we have opposition managers saying the same about us, we have to keep going with that.

‘Is it street smart? It’s whatever it is, it’s just not being naive, it’s being smart, it’s controlling the game, controlling the tempo of the game when you need to.

‘I didn’t look at it and didn't think it was anything other than professional. That’s probably the way I would prefer to put it - professional’.

The Blues raced into a two-goal lead in the opening nine minutes through Bishop’s penalty and Callum Lang’s 10th of the season.

Ben Wilmot pulled one back on 27 minutes as Stoke worryingly grew into the match and dominated possession as the first-half progressed.

However, once Connor Ogilvie stabbed home a corner four minutes into the second half, Pompey cruised to victory, lifting themselves into 18th in the Championship.

Robins afterwards told the Stoke Sentinel: ‘I'm really disappointed. They set the tone right from the start and we didn't live with that. We allowed them to bully us all night.

‘They've set their stall out, let's have it right. They've thrown themselves to the floor, they've fouled us, they've kicked us and we've had nothing because it's all the dark arts.

‘They've all manned us tonight. People don't understand what that means but they've got players who've experienced the other side of the game because they've come through a different route I suppose

‘Colby Bishop, for instance, starting goal side of our defenders when the ball gets kicked, he just runs backs and blocks them for other runners going through. We've got to understand it. It's old school, that's old school football, and you've got to be able to deal with it and not just think teams are going to allow you to come and play.

‘It's really disappointing because all they did was run harder, they run harder to get in behind, they run harder to get into positions to try to put you under pressure. That's how this team puts you under pressure. That's what they are, how they've been built.’