Gaffer: Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton had a point about Portsmouth's playing system - I'm glad it has changed

What are your thoughts on that?

This team has a way of taking us to a really good place – then pulling us back from there and making us struggle.

Saturday was a perfect example. One minute you’re 3-1 up thinking we could go and score a few more than we concede, then it’s a woeful second half.

We spent the rest of the game clinging on for dear life and must do better.

Having said that, there were some plus points, with Denver Hume and Jay Mingi the stand-out players by a mile.

Who was your man of the match then?

I remember seeing Mingi as a triallist against the Hawks in July 2021 and earmarking him as one for the future.

When I saw him in July this year against Paul Doswell’s side, he had improved and I expected him to probably go out on loan.

Now he’s looking like a phenomenal player and we need to get him signed to a new contract ASAP.

He breaks the lines, is so athletic, has huge technical quality for his age and is really good on the ball. For a performance, you don’t get much better than his against MK Dons.

What did you make of the system change?

I’m happy to change it. The 4-4-2 worked until September, we gave Joey Barton a lot of grief for what he said, but teams got used to it and there’s only so much you can do in that way of playing.

On Saturday it was a back three, but we might need to bring in another centre-half to play it, I wouldn’t call Michael Morrison and Sean Raggett ball-playing defenders.

I’m actually stuck in the middle. I don’t want a 4-4-2 but to have three at the back you need a right-sided centre-half who can play football, so perhaps it should be a 4-3-2-1.

I don’t think the system is currently there, I’m stuck between wanting two or three others.

How do you evaluate this season so far?

As long as we get a bit of luck with injuries, we’ll at least get to the play-offs.

Someone at the Derby game called us ‘Drawsmouth’, which I thought was spot on. While we are hard to beat, we struggle for goals, even though that sounds weird after three goals on Saturday.

The season has been good so far, but frustrating as we’re not creating enough right now.

I don’t really see any teams I’m worried about in this division, so I can see no reason why we can’t reach the play-offs.

But to get anywhere near the automatics we need a number 10 and a right-sided footballing centre-half in January.

Josh Griffiths – 7

Michael Morrison – 6

Sean Raggett – 6

Clark Robertson – 5

Zak Swanson – 7

Denver Hume – 9

Marlon Pack – 7

Jay Mingi – 9

Reeco Hackett – 7

Ronan Curtis – 6

Colby Bishop – 8