Portsmouth boss hails strong second-half performance from 'excellent' Blues against Shrewsbury

John Mousinho hailed Pompey’s strong second-half performance as they maintained their promotion march.

And he admitted Abu Kamara’s opener in first-half stoppage time was crucial.

The Blues were being held to a goalless draw with the interval looming when they netted with only their second shot on target - through man-of-the-match Kamara.

Buoyed by that one-goal advantage, the Blues emerged from the interval with a powerful showing over the second 45 minutes to clinch a comfortable 3-0 victory.

And a fourth successive victory puts them seven points clear at the top of League One.

Mousinho told The News: ‘I thought we were excellent, especially in the second half.

‘The first half was tough for us, we had to deal with breaking Shrewsbury down, they were very, very well organised, they worked hard and the first 20-25 minutes we moved the ball a bit too slowly.

‘It was a bit pedestrian in the way we shifted it from side-to-side. Then we clicked into gear and started to create a few more opportunities and opened them up a bit more.

‘The goal definitely came at a good time because Shrewsbury then had to change the way they pressed and, as soon as they did that, we started to pick them off really well.

‘The whole second half felt we were well in control, but also created a huge amount of chances as well.

‘I’m really pleased for the boys putting in that performance, especially after Monday, quite a tricky one to bounce back from. To do that and to be as professional as we were in the second half was brilliant.

‘That first half happens in games, you can’t just come to places and beat teams, especially this Shrewsbury team. They have won four of their last five at home, they have put some teams to bed here that are doing well in the league.

‘They were going to be tough to break down and I didn’t have an issue with that, I just thought we should have moved the ball a bit quicker, but physically we looked good, we were fit over the 90 minutes.

‘We just probably needed to deal with that first 20-25 minutes a bit better, but it does happen, you can’t just blow sides away, you have to make sure you are patient, don’t give anything away at the back.

‘And we will always get opportunities at the top of the pitch, whether it’s through a set-piece or a good bit of play.’

Kamara struck twice to take his tally to six for the season, while Marlon Pack grabbed the other.

And Mousinho explained how Shrewsbury had to change their approach after that opener on the stroke of half-time.

He added: ‘The goal didn’t change the half-time team talk, in terms of making sure we needed to move the ball a bit quicker.

‘The only thing it did change was I thought Shrewsbury were going to do something slightly different - which they did. Their centre-forwards tried to press our centre-halves a bit higher and that gave us a few more opportunities to move the ball quickly into the middle of the park and out.’