'I'm furious with the players': Fuming Portsmouth boss John Mousinho's agony after Burnley heartbreak

And insisted he was ‘furious’ with the players, having slipped to an agonising late, late defeat at Turf Moor.

The Blues appeared set for a point after Clarets substitute Jeremy Sarmiento’s 63rd-minute strike had cancelled out Callum Lang’s first-half opener.

However, in the fourth minute of time added-on, Josh Brownhill netted a dramatic winner to clinch a 2-1 triumph, much to the relief of the home crowd.

And a frustrated Mousinho reflected on a third-straight loss after returning to the Championship.

He told The News: ‘It was the toughest result to take this season by a long way, by a long way, for a couple of reasons.

‘You look back at the last couple of weeks and I thought we were beaten by better sides like West Brom and Sunderland. For large parts of the Burnley game, I thought it was very, very even.

‘Yes Burnley had a lot of the ball, but they didn’t cause us a huge amount of problems and we have come away losing the game - and I’m not quite sure how.

‘It was a really good game of football for large parts, I thought we frustrated Turf Moor for almost the entirety of the match, so I’m really pleased with the game plan and really pleased with the effort of the boys.

‘But there are a couple of moments we need to do a lot better because we keep coming in here being pleased with the performance and laying ourselves down in very, very key moments of the game.

‘The two I’m thinking of are when Sarmiento cuts in onto his right foot, we don’t get any pressure on the ball, and we should have cleared the ball for the second goal.

‘I am furious with the players. I can live with West Brom, I can live with Sunderland. To a certain extent, I didn't think we deserved to win the games at Leeds and Middlesbrough when we were leading into injury time. But we deserved so much more out of Burnley.

‘The players have to make sure they look at themselves and do better in those moments.’

Crucially, Burnley’s winner emanated from substitute Matt Ritchie’s backheel, which gifted possession back to the hosts.

And it’s a mistake which, ultimately, would lead to a heart-breaking loss.

Mousinho added: ‘With that goal we need to deal with it better, absolutely. We have to look at ourselves because we don’t clear it, but we have to do miles better.