Portsmouth boss admits Championship lessons as table-topping Sunderland show ruthlessness

But the Blues head coach is convinced his side possesses the potential to close the difference between the teams.

The table-topping Black Cats ran out 3-1 winners at Fratton Park, inflicting the first Championship defeat of Pompey’s season.

Indeed, had it not been for Luke O’Nien’s stoppage-time own goal to hand the hosts a consolation, the scoreline would have been even greater.

And in a match of few goal-scoring opportunities for either side, it was Sunderland who demonstrated a brutal ruthlessness.

Mousinho told The News: ‘It’s disappointing to lose the game, but Sunderland deserved to win and were better than us in a lot of areas for the majority of the match.

‘I thought we were okay up until half-time and two moments of quality, two moments where we didn’t deal with the threat particularly well, and we were punished.

‘We look at the Sunderland side and what they’ve done over the past few weeks and they’ve really put sides to the sword and been excellent.

‘They were excellent against us in a different way, much more clinical. They probably sat in a bit deeper and caught us on the counter and put the chances in the back of the net.

‘The three goals were the difference between the two sides as well as a lot of small moments that added up to make it a big difference in the end.

‘It’s a funny one because I thought we conceded more chances against Leeds and Middlesbrough than we did against Sunderland and ended up getting draws there.

‘There is a difference between the two sides, but I don’t think the difference is unbridgeable, we can definitely make sure we’re better in a lot of areas and give ourselves a lot better chance to come here and win games.

‘There’s a lot to learn from and we’ll dust ourselves off and go again in a couple of weeks.’

The match had been goalless until the 31st minute when Jordan Williams fired a clearance against Zak Swanson which ricocheted into his own net.

And Mousinho was particularly disappointed with the build-up to that Sunderland opener.

He added: ‘For the first 30-35 minutes we were well in the game and conceded a really poor goal.

‘Not in the way it ends up in the back of the net, but the way Sunderland get the ball on the right side of the box and crossed it. We just didn’t track runners, we didn’t sprint to get back in.

‘To work so hard to get into the game then, at that point, to allow Sunderland to waltz into the box like that was unacceptable, to be honest.’