Portsmouth boss: Blackpool's barrage of abuse made us take off Brentford man for our protection

John Mousinho insists Myles Peart-Harris had to be substituted at half-time against Blackpool for Pompey’s 'protection'.

Now he’s ready to push the Brentford loanee back into an attacking role, starting in Tuesday night’s visit of Burton.

Peart-Harris was replaced by Owen Moxon at the interval in Saturday’s goalless draw, a decision primarily driven by being on a yellow card.

The hosts had been controversially reduced to 10 men following Jordan Rhodes’ 43rd-minute dismissal following an aerial challenge on Joe Rafferty.

According to Mousinho, referee Ed Duckworth was met with a ‘barrage of abuse’ from angry Blackpool players and staff in the tunnel at half-time.

And, with lessons learnt from Joe Morrell, that reaction convinced him to bring off his midfielder.

The Blues boss told The News: ‘At the weekend, in possession I would have liked Myles to be better, but, overall I thought he did a very, very good job out of possession.

‘One of the issues we had at Fratton Park against Blackpool was their midfield three got right on top of us and switched the ball really well, so we struggled to get hold of them.

‘I didn’t see any of that at the weekend, Myles did a very, very good job, although picked up the booking - and we had to make sure we protected ourselves.

‘The referee had given Jordan Rhodes that red card in the first half and we didn’t want to leave ourselves exposed or open to any risk, so brought him off.

‘If I had left him and, after five minutes, he mistimes a challenge or slips, then the ref has a good chance of evening things up.

‘We are no angels, but at half-time the referee, linesmen and fourth official took an absolute barrage of abuse from Blackpool staff and players while walking into their dressing room. It put a huge amount of pressure on the referee - and I didn’t want to give him a decision to make.

‘It was the right thing to take Myles out of the firing line and we had an option on the bench.

‘Maybe in the past I’ve been criticised for Joe Morrell. When he's on a yellow, sometimes that ends up being a red card and I haven’t brought him off.

‘I still think Joe has to be better in those situations because he’s a bit more experienced, but someone like Myles, in his second loan and not having experience of playing in that atmosphere, you have to be careful.’

The 21-year-old has so far turned out for the Blues as a number 10, off the left and in a holding midfield role.

Yet Mousinho recognises the former Forest Green loanee may be better suited for an attacking role.

He added: ‘The biggest compliment I can give Myles is he’s had an impact and made a difference in a very, very good run of form.

‘He has been more effective further up the field. We may have played him in different positions, but we’ve always wanted to get him into the team because of his strength. We just need to build on that.

‘Myles set the bar against Port Vale and we need to keep pushing him to achieve those heights. He’s had days when he has been brilliant, but always affects the game.’