Portsmouth boss' strong warning to ex-Bristol City and Luton man after fifth red card of Fratton career

Joe Morrell has been warned his indiscipline could prevent him soaring to the ‘next level’.

That’s the verdict of John Mousinho, following the influential midfielder’s fifth dismissal in 94 Pompey outings.

The Welsh international was given a second yellow card following a challenge on Karamoko Dembele in the second half of Saturday’s heavy defeat to Blackpool.

It arrived in the 64th minute, when the Blues were trailing by two goals, with the 10-men eventually slumping to a 4-0 loss at Fratton Park.

Morrell has been in impressive form this season, also skippering the side in the injury absence of Marlon Pack, but must now sit out two matches.

And Mousinho refused to defend the former Bristol City man after his second sending off this term.

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘I thought it was a sending off, he should have stayed on his feet, and I've told Joe that.

‘After the Peterborough red card I said I didn’t mind that one at all, he has tried to bring the guy down when they're on the break. However, this one he needs to be a lot more sensible with.

‘Now Joe is missing two games for something where an experienced pro like him has to do better.

‘In this instance the most important thing was me letting him know he needs to be better in those moments - and that he actually knows it himself.

‘That’s a massive learning curve for him, it’s the only thing I think is going to stop him from going to the next level.

‘In the dressing room he apologised to the players, he held his hands up and said he knows he needs to be better, so fair play.

‘But his dismissal was massive in the context of the game. Who knows what would have happened, but, with the momentum we were building at that point and obviously having just had the penalty shout, we would have had a right go.

‘We had options to change the game and, after Joe was sent off, didn’t manage to bring Kusini on until we were down to 10 men.’

Coincidentally, Blackpool marked Pack’s return from ankle ligament damage sustained at Wigan in September.

Now he and fellow midfielder Ben Stevenson, who were introduced in the 80th minute, are battling each other to replace Morrell at Burton on Tuesday evening (7.45pm).

Mousinho added: ‘Marlon is one of the players that can fill in there.

‘Him coming back into the fold and getting some minutes at the weekend was a real positive for us in an otherwise pretty disappointing afternoon.

‘We’ve obviously also had Ben, who has competed really well when he’s come in.'