Frustrated John Mousinho pinpoints lessons Portsmouth must swiftly learn to fulfil promotion ambition

And John Mousinho has called on his side to swiftly learn the prized art of breaking down stubborn teams such as Cheltenham.

The Robins held the Blues to a goalless draw in a match Pompey’s head coach admits his team did little to deserve victory.

Despite dominating possession and Regan Poole sending a header against the inside of the post, the hosts rarely trouble the opposition keeper.

And they only have themselves to blame.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Under the circumstances, completely dominating the game in every aspect apart from the final third, we are frustrated.

‘But, ultimately, I don’t think we created enough to be sitting in there feeling too sorry for ourselves. We must do better than that.

‘Overall, we feel we should have won the game – but I don’t necessarily think we deserved to win it based on what we created.

‘It’s very, very difficult to play against a system like that, really difficult, although we thought we had enough quality in there.

‘Every time we played the ball wide we were probably a bit slow in terms of the way in which we switched the ball – and there’s a real difference between being patient with the ball and slowing the game down too much.

‘We probably slowed the game down a bit too much and weren’t quick enough. Ultimately, you need to shift these teams from side to side to create gaps.

‘Then, when we did get opportunities to put the ball into the box, I don’t think it was with enough quality and we didn’t have enough bodies in the box either.

‘The message to the lads in the dressing room is we need to be better and digest what we have to do in order to break down sides like this.’

In a bid to break the stalemate, Abu Kamara, Jack Sparkes, Christian Saydee and Paddy Lane would all be introduced in the second half.

Even skipper Marlon Pack made way – but the goal wouldn’t arrive.

Mousinho added: ‘We wanted to be positive and made attacking substitutions.

‘We changed both the wide men to try to provide fresh legs and put Christian on to get another centre-forward on the pitch.

‘At that point it was changing Marlon, who has been absolutely excellent from the start of the season and we didn’t necessarily think three games in a week would have helped.

‘I’m not sure he will agree with me, but I also felt the stoppage wasn’t the best thing for him, to stop and go again.’