'I'm not going to lie': Portsmouth boss on how League One leaders have resolved biggest playing weakness

Namely a frustrating early-season characteristic of starting matches poorly.

It's a troubling weakness the head coach believes was evident against Stevenage, Peterborough and Leyton Orient, irrespective of the outcomes.

Nonetheless, Mousinho is confident the issue has finally been eradicated, holding up their last three clashes as proof.

Certainly successive wins over Barnsley, Lincoln and Wigan have strengthened Pompey’s claims on the League One title.

And, crucially, they have arrived after tightening up another aspect of their play.

Mousinho told The News: ‘I won’t lie, starting games slowly is something we have been focusing on, but over the last few weeks we have addressed it really well.

‘Bristol Rovers we played well in the first half and went a goal down, I can live with it. Peterborough at home we were really poor in the opening 20-25 minutes, that was a problem and something we needed to address.

‘Lincoln was a bit of a freak goal, no issue with that, and Derby we went a goal down, but it was very, very late. On Saturday we started well and went a goal down.

‘So the bigger problems for me are the Peterborough game and, believe it or not, matches like Leyton Orient and Stevenage, where I didn’t think we started well.

‘At Orient we didn’t get punished, at Stevenage we ended up drawing 0-0 but gave ourselves too much to do because we just didn’t start the game well enough.

‘Those are the ones that are more of a problem, not when we go a goal down, that’s something I can live with. It’s when we don’t play well and deserve to be a goal down because we haven’t applied ourselves properly.

‘There are a multitude of factors for that, the travel in some of them, but most of the time I just think it’s mentality.

‘It takes players a second to get into the game, they need to properly prepare themselves and know that teams are going to come out, whether home or away, and be at it from the first minute.

‘We need to make sure we match that and go above it – and I think we’ve since addressed it really well.

‘It was happening prior to Barnsley, but we have started the last three matches really well.’

Pompey have come from behind five times in League One this season – going on to win three of them.

While Bristol Rovers and Derby finished in late draws, there were victories over Peterborough, Lincoln and Wigan.

And Mousinho believes his side are always learning.

He added: ‘Naturally there are going to be weaknesses, we never think we’ve cracked it, because we haven’t, it’s as simple as that. There’s a huge amount to improve on.

‘We must also acknowledge that there are times when we’re not going to be at our best – but we have to make sure we always have the bare minimum of standards in place.’