‘Most lacklustre I’ve seen from a Cowley team’: The damning assessment of Portsmouth’s bleak Wycombe showing

That was the scathing view of former Wycombe and Brentford midfielder Sam Saunders, after yesterday’s 2-0 defeat at Adams Park.

But Blues fans can take solace from the fact they’re unlikely to see their team perform as poorly as they did in front of Sky cameras again.

And Saunders pinpointed the home backing of the Fratton faithful as a significant weapon in Pompey’s arsenal moving forward this season.

A dreadful first-half display was at the heart of a dispiriting 2-0 reverse to Gareth Ainsworth’s side yesterday.

Cowley’s side improved after the break, but didn’t create nearly enough threat to warrant a return from the game.

Saunders was part of the Sky analysis team for the game and pulled no punches over what he saw.

The 39-year-old has faced Cowley sides many time as he made his way up the league pyramid, and didn’t recognise what he saw against the Chairboys.

Saunders told Sky Sports: ‘They huffed and puffed second half, but for me it was one of the most lacklustre performances I’ve seen from a Danny Cowley team.

‘I’ve played against Danny for years, and every time you play against one of his side you know you’re in a really tough game.

‘But what I liked (from Cowley) was he said you have to own it when you play badly, collectively and individually.

‘They’ll go again, the games are coming thick and fast.

‘The beauty of it is you can learn from the previous game and take it to the next.’

The Wycombe loss was the third of the season for Pompey, with all the defeats coming on the road.

It’s also now five games without a win in League One and one success in 10 - with six draws arriving in that time.

Saunders feels is isn’t all bad news for Pompey at the moment, though.

He added: ‘They’ve still got two games in hand on the ones above them, and they have good players in that squad.

‘They won’t play a badly as that for a long time, I don’t believe, especially when they play at Fratton Park with those fans - they’ll be geeing them up.

‘It’s just one of those days they will want to get rid off, because it wasn’t the performance of a Danny Cowley team.’