Portsmouth boss focuses on attacking improvement after Oxford United frustration - and fourth straight draw

The Blues were held to a 1-1 draw at struggling Oxford United – a side which previously hadn’t won for 15 matches.

Having led through Marlon Pack’s free-kick, Sam Long levelled in the first half, although the hosts wasted plenty of opportunities to claim a long-awaited victory.

Yet again Pompey rued a lack of creativity, with leading scorer Colby Bishop starved of satisfactory service, as their season peters out disappointingly.

Certainly the play-offs are now over and a seventh season in League One is booked, much to everyone’s frustration.

And Mousinho acknowledged the Blues have to find a way to pep up their attacking threat.

He told The News: We didn’t create a huge amount and were caught on the counter a couple of times, but we still played some really good football.

‘It’s just added that guile in the final third, a bit of positivity, and probably a bit more quality – which is where we need to work for the last three games and going into next season.

‘It has been a running thing over the last few weeks. Sometimes if you come away from home and score one goal that might be enough, but we definitely need to concentrate on creating a bit more.

‘We had some good spells on possession, we were positive with the ball when we moved it quickly, and there was some really, really pleasing stuff, but of course we want to create more opportunities and score more goals, that’s definitely at the forefront of our minds.

‘Oxford were really, really well organised, defensively they've had an excellent record over the last few weeks, they conceded one here against Bolton and one against Sheffield Wednesday, while drew 0-0 at Peterborough.

‘When sides sit in and when sides aren’t going to press you as high as maybe teams pressed us previously, we have to be a bit more patient and maybe show more guile in the final third to create a bit more.

‘On reflection, a draw was a fair result, I don’t think we created enough.’

Pompey remain in ninth, seven points adrift of Bolton with three matches remaining.

And, realistically, they will not be breaking into the top six during the final three matches of the campaign.

He added: ‘It was a really good game of League One football, a bit end-to-end in the second half, more end-to-end than we would have liked.

‘Both sides were trying to play football, especially in the first-half when we created some excellent opportunities and played some really nice stuff and well worth our lead.

‘We just need to tighten up slightly, particularly when we give the ball away.

‘So when we are a bit sloppy in possession, it’s what we look like behind the ball to make sure we’re secure and stop those counter attacks.’