Humbled John Mousinho applauds Portsmouth faithful after touching gesture
The Championship match was abandoned after 12 minutes following the tragic death of a Charlton fan
It was a gesture John Mousinho felt he owed the travelling Pompey faithful - and he was touched by their response.
Saturday’s Championship encounter at Charlton was abandoned after 12 minutes of play following the tragic death of a home supporter.
Following the match being called off at 0-0, Mousinho left the Blues’ dressing room and returned to the pitch to ‘show appreciation’ to the large visiting following gathered in the Jimmy Seed Stand.
He was greeted warmly with the traditional ‘Who needs Mourinho’ song, followed by loud applause in recognition of the moment.
And, speaking afterwards, Mousinho, who has attracted growing criticism of late over Pompey’s plummet down the league, admitted the reaction meant a lot.
Portsmouth boss: Football came second
He told The News: ‘Firstly, the most important, overriding matter on the day was the sad passing of a Charlton supporter. Football came second.
‘It is incredibly sad news and, as a club - and me personally - our thoughts are with the family and friends of the fan who tragically died. We also lost one of our own at a game in January and understand the pain.
‘Once the match had been abandoned, I felt the right thing to do was go to our fans and show appreciation for their attendance and backing.
‘I had spoken to the press in midweek about how I knew that, come 12.30pm at the weekend, we were going to have 3,000 fans packing out an away end - despite all the struggles we've had in recent weeks.
‘Having travelled, having spent their money to come here, we knew we were going to be supported come rain or shine - and got that again on Saturday.
‘And from their reaction, they haven’t given up on me yet, which is quite nice, I have a great relationship with them. It has been almost three years, which has been fantastic, and hopefully it can keep going.’
Six team changes for Pompey
Mousinho had made six changes for the match, with Terry Devlin, Hayden Matthews, Ibane Bowat, John Swift, Minhyeok Yang and Conor Chaplin all had recalls.
They replaced injured pair Regan Poole (ankle) and Josh Knight (back), along with Colby Bishop, Jordan Williams, Adrian Segecic and the suspended Andre Dozzell.
With Lang leading the line in place of Bishop, it had been an encouraging start from the visitors until supporters in the Covered End stand alerted stewards to a medical emergency in the 12th minute.
The match was initially stopped, before being abandoned almost an hour later. Charlton subsequently announced the supporter had sadly passed away.
Mousinho added: ‘The fans reflected off the positive start we’d had to the game and probably thought it was a decent away performance for the first 12 minutes.’