Furious Portsmouth boss’ Bristol Rovers demand after Peterborough United and Bolton Wanderers cut lead

John Mousinho has called for a Boxing Day response after Pompey’s dispiriting opening to the Christmas period.

And the Blues boss made no apologies for placing high demands on his players as they aim to put right their weak Fleetwood showing at Bristol Rovers.

Mousinho’s side came up well short of what’s expected of them in the 1-1 draw to Lee Johnson’s side on Saturday.

Pompey were pegged back by a side who’d lost their previous six games without scoring and were in League One freefall.

Now the expectation is they put things right as they go to the Memorial Ground, after Peterborough cut their advantage at the top to five points.

Mousinho said: ‘My message to the boys is if you allow teams to stay in games something like that will happen.

It can be a set-piece, someone slips, a misplaced pass or a referee decision.

‘That is not allowable or acceptable at this level.

‘I can live with the goal (being conceded). I can’t live with the performance building up to the goal being conceded.

‘The demand is straightaway - and the lads know that. We have to put that right and be a lot better than that.

‘I have high expectations of us because of how good this team is and has been.

‘I don’t think I’m wrong in that and I don’t think I’m wrong to demand more than that.’

Mousinho made no qualms about the fact Pompey’s place at the top of League One is under threat if they produce more performance like Saturday’s moving forward.

It was the period at the start of the second half leading up to Fleetwood’s 63rd-minute goal which was the focus of his ire.

He added: ‘The expectation for me was to kick on and the expectation from the fans was to kick on.

‘I hold the lads to those high standards and what we expect them to produce.

‘We see their quality day-in, day out. The fans have seen the quality they have over the past four games and against Fleetwood they didn’t produce that.

‘They didn’t produce the quality needed if we are to maintain our position at the top of the league.

‘The more disappointing thing was they didn’t produce that quality coming out in the second half. That’s what we now need to put right.’