'To be honest': Portsmouth boss John Mousinho's verdict on new-boy's debut in Preston North End defeat
The Luton loanee was handed only his fourth start of the season when he lined-up for the Blues at Deepdale
John Mousinho surveyed the performance of his latest Pompey debut and insisted: It was pretty good.
Transfer deadline day arrival Jacob Brown was handed a Blues starting spot for Saturday’s trip to Preston North End.
Replacing the injured Colby Bishop as the lone striker, it represented just a fourth start of the season for the loanee - and his first since December 13.
He featured for 69 minutes before being replaced by Makenzie Kirk in attack as Pompey slipped to a 1-0 defeat against the high-flying Lilywhites.
Nonetheless, Mousinho was pleased with Brown’s maiden outing in a Blues shirt.
He told The News: ‘I thought Jacob led the line well against three very physical centre-halves.
‘We were always going to bring him off around 60 minutes because of the load and the fact he only came into the building this week, so I thought it was a pretty good performance to be honest.
‘He didn’t have a huge amount in terms of opportunities in the box, but he led the line well and did exactly as we needed him to do.
‘Jacob ran the channel well, he held the ball up well, he competed when he needed to. He’s not the biggest, but he competed against a physical centre-half in Jordan Storey and the same with Lewis Gibson and he knitted everything together pretty well.
‘We will get there. Jacob has played this year, coming to us he hasn’t been out of action, not with any injuries, but just with any squad involvement with Luton recently.
‘So it’s just a case of building him up and making sure he is ready to go and as fit as possible as we go through the games.’
Brown was unable to cap his Blues bow with a goal in a match of few opportunities as Mousinho's men slipped to a second defeat in 10 league games.
The head coach was fuming when Adrian Segecic wasn’t awarded a penalty on 30 minutes following Jordan Storey’s challenge from behind - with a goal-kick instead being awarded.
Although the visitors dictated play for long periods and finished strongly, they barely tested Preston keeper Dai Cornell throughout.
Still, it was another encouraging display in Mousinho’s eyes as he aims to maintain recent positive momentum and steer the Blues away from the Championship relegation zone.
He added: ‘We have been a balanced team over the past eight or nine games, whereas we weren’t at times earlier this season, hence why we are in the position we are in the league.
‘But, before Saturday, we had lost one in nine, we were in pretty good form coming into it. I thought we played pretty well too.
‘Once we get a couple of injuries back - and I know every club would say the same - particularly at the top, we’ll hopefully compete and make sure we pick up as many points as we can.’