Fuming Portsmouth skipper Tom Naylor refuses to offer Accrington excuses

Tom Naylor is adamant there can be no excuses for their Accrington mauling.
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Kenny Jackett’s side were forced to field an entire new back four for Saturday’s trip to the League One strugglers.

Injury and unavailability robbed them of Brandon Haunstrup, Christian Burgess, Oli Hawkins and Lee Brown at the Crown Ground.

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In their absence, the makeshift defence were on the receiving end of an embarrassing 4-1 defeat.

Pompey's players are dejected after conceding the second goal in Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Accrington. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.comPompey's players are dejected after conceding the second goal in Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Accrington. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com
Pompey's players are dejected after conceding the second goal in Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Accrington. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com

And Naylor, who dropped back into centre-half, refused to use the necessity of a defensive overhaul as the reason for the awful outcome.

He said: ‘There should be no excuses.

‘There were a lot of changes to be fair, we changed the whole back four which started against Peterborough, but have to deal with it.

‘We are professional players and have to stand up. We made a few changes, but have to cope.

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‘This defence hasn’t played together all season, but we have to deal with things and I don’t think it was just the defence to be fair, it was all around the pitch.

‘We gave balls away, they counter-attacked us and scored four goals, it just isn’t good enough.

‘We didn’t deal with their players, we had to stick to our jobs, but had holes left, right and centre and they picked us off. It was disappointing.

‘With Burgess suspended, we knew we had to change it, while Hawkins having a little one and his missus in hospital, Browny’s injured and Brandon as well.

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‘We had to do something, we thought this was the best side we could put out.

‘We worked on it all week, the gaffer knew what the team was going to be, but we just didn’t turn up.’

Saturday’s loss represented a first in 11 matches for the Blues.

It has been an impressive run which earned Jackett a Sky Bet Manager of the Month nomination for November.

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Now Naylor is eyeing establishing another productive spell of results.

He added: ‘We have to take into consideration we had gone 10 matches unbeaten before this, we’ve done well in the last month or so.

‘Ipswich are next, we have to move on.’

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