'Still one of the best in the Championship': Portsmouth boss defends Blues favourite after huge error
The Austrian’s 79th-minute mistake cost Pompey victory at Vicarage Road on Wednesday night
John Mousinho reflected on Nicolas Schmid’s costly Vicarage Road mistake and insisted: He’s still one of the best in the Championship.
The Blues had been poised to register successive away victories after Adrian Segecic’s sixth goal of the season had presented them with a deserved 73rd-minute lead.
With new signings Millenic Alli and Ebou Adams at the heart of the encouraging performance, there was plenty to like about Mousinho’s men against the Championship high fliers.
Then, just six minutes later, Rocco Vata’s cross from the left was dropped by Schmid under pressure from Luca Kjerrumgaard, with substitute Mamadou Doumbia finishing into an empty net to secured a 1-1 draw.
It was devastating for Pompey and Schmid - but the head coach has given the Austrian his backing.
Mousinho told The News: ‘I thought the performance was superb for the full 90 minutes, the only disappointment on the night as we didn’t win it. To concede the goal in the manner we did was a real blow for us.
‘It is very, very rare’
Mousinho told The News: ‘I thought the performance was superb for the full 90 minutes, the only disappointment on the night as we didn’t win it. To concede the goal in the manner we did was a real blow for us.
‘It’s just an error, we’ve made plenty of really poor decisions and been really defensively poor at times this season and deserved to concede goals. We didn’t deserve to concede a goal on Wednesday night.
‘But one thing’s for sure, Nico is going to help us out and save us this season far more times than he makes errors and it is very, very rare, a collectors’ item, for him to do that. We will take it and move on because he’s been superb.
‘He just went up in difficult conditions and unfortunately dropped the ball. Maybe he took his eye off it for a second. All of the players out there made mistakes, it’s just amplified when you are a goalkeeper.
‘Nico’s a brilliant goalkeeper, one of the best in the league, easily in our top-three performers last year among some very, very good performances. I think he has been very solid again this season, so it is absolutely no problem to me.
‘He was disappointed, but I made the same point in the dressing room afterwards, plenty of lads gave the ball away, but we didn't quite get punished. It’s one of those that, unfortunately, we couldn't mask.’
Javi Gracia’s side are presently seventh in the Championship, one point and one place off the play-offs, as they continue to have a strong season.
Considering the strength of the Hornets - and Pompey’s own impressive display - Mousinho was delighted with his side’s Vicarage Road showing.
‘I’ll be surprised if they don’t finish in the top six’
He added: ‘Having watched Watford extensively this year, at home in particular they are an extremely dangerous side.
‘I will be surprised if they don’t finish in the top six, they have quality throughout the entire squad. Some of the players you see on display are excellent, at Premier League level. and they have a huge amount of talent coming off the bench as well.
‘So to really restrict them to very little for the entire game and to play as well as we did, really pleased me.’