Disappointed Portsmouth boss John Mousinho rues a point as Wrexham get a Fratton Park let off

John Mousinho hailed Pompey’s response after the Birmingham debacle - then revealed his disappointment at failing to win.

The Blues bounced back from the weekend 4-0 hammering at St Andrew’s with a goalless draw against Wrexham, yet the scoreline doesn’t quite tell the full story.

Certainly in the second half, dominant Pompey should have found a winner, prompted by the mercurial Josh Murphy in his first start since September.

Ultimately, the Red Dragons will be far more grateful for the point and Mousinho is convinced his side created ‘more than enough’ to have claimed victory.

Instead the Blues were forced to accept a point - although having ended a concerning run of three successive defeats.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Apart from not winning the game, it was the response I wanted.

‘It was the response overall in terms of the lads being physical, the lads actually embracing the challenge, being much more organised than we were at the weekend. That was definitely what we got.

‘I was disappointed we didn’t win, I felt we should have won the game, we created more than enough. Ultimately, on another day, we put one of those into the back of the net and the roof comes off Fratton. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that.

‘We got to grips with the shape really well, we pressed really aggressively, we had some very, very good individual performances as well and the goal was the one thing that was missing.

‘We do need to try to win some of these games.’

Mousinho had made seven changes against Wrexham, while implementing a 3-4-3 system, in a bid to find some semblance of form after recent disappointing displays.

It consisted of a back three containing Regan Poole, Josh Knight and Ibane Bowat, with Terry Devlin and Connor Ogilvie the wing-backs.

And with Conor Chaplin, Colby Bishop and Murphy restored the side, Mousinho felt the changes had a positive effect.

He added: ‘You could probably tell in the first half that it was a bit cagy, a bit low in confidence, we wanted to do the basics well, we didn’t concede a huge amount of set-pieces - then we grew into the game.

‘Having fight is the minimum we ask for and, to be honest, it should never take an away pasting like it did at the weekend to really galvanise the side like that.

‘That was a big thing which was missing.’