‘It’s a big concern’: Portsmouth boss on lowest point and angry Fratton scenes in Leyton Orient capitulation

John Mousinho admitted ‘unrecognisable’ Pompey produced the worst display of his tenure as their promotion hopes hang in the balance.

And the Blues boss acknowledged the Fratton faithful were wholly justified in booing amid the angry scenes surround the 3-0 Leyton Orient collapse.

Pompey served up an unacceptable showing at Fratton Park, as they capitulated with three goals arriving in 20 first-half minutes to stun the home crowd.

Mousinho stated he was concerned by what unfolded as he kept his players locked up in the home dressing room during a lengthy post-match inquest.

He said: ‘You take the second half out of it, we had a bit of a go but never looked like scoring.

‘That side in the first half was the one I looked at and thought it was unrecognisable.

‘We were okay at the start of the game, but it’s not good enough to be good enough at the start of the game.

‘I can accept going 1-0 down, we’ve done it plenty of times this season. It’s the character we then show to bounce back - we never showed any of that.

‘It’s a big concern of mine.

‘We didn’t respond well to the first goal and then went 2-0 down.

‘I thought we’d have a go, but we missed the penalty and heads went down..

‘Missing a penalty happens. It happened against Port Vale last season and we got back into the game, but rather than doing that we let them go down the other end and score again.

'It’s the worst we’ve been since I’ve been here - this feels different because of the way we went down.

‘I’ve always said I have no problem with us conceding and we will lose sometimes.

‘Even the Blackpool game here and the circumstances of the game with the red card, you think just dust ourselves off and go again.

‘We did that really well, but today we just looked really lacking and lacking in confidence in everything we’ve seen from a side who’s been so good and dominant for large parts of the season against really good sides. That’s the part we have to get a lot better.’

Pompey fans made their feelings known with boos both at half-time and on the full-time whistle.

Mousinho felt that reaction was more than fair - and could’ve been far worse.

He added: ‘I thought they were very, very mild to what they could’ve been, to be honest. I thought any reaction there was completely fair.

‘I heard them singing through the second half, so no grumbles there whatsoever.

'It was more than a fair reaction.

‘Whatever’s said externally is fine, but we have to make sure we ask and answer the right questions internally as well. We always try to do that.’