Exclusive:Burnley 0 Portsmouth 0: Neil Allen's verdict - Sneered at by critics, yet evolving Blues deserve respect
The Blues are 11th in the table after registering five matches unbeaten in the Championship
Rather impressively, multi-lingual Burnley boss Fabio Celestini can speak in five tongues.
Certainly Pompey are talking a very different language in the Championship these days as their long-awaited evolution continues at an encouraging pace.
Onlooking former player David Unsworth at Turf Moor may have labelled John Mousinho’s men a ‘terrible Portsmouth team, a really, really poor Portsmouth team’, after a goalless draw in an uninspiring footballing spectacle.
Crucially, however, the current league rankings suggest otherwise as the Blues finally settle into a mid-table existence following successive relegation scraps.
Unsworth’s views cannot entirely be dismissed, as an attacking force the visitors were well below par, failing to test Burnley keeper Gregoire Coudert other than a disallowed Marlon Pack goal.
Indeed, had it not been for a strong defensive performance - yet again led magnificently by Regan Poole and Madiodio Dia - plus an improbable miss by Marcus Edwards, the hosts would have registered a first Turf Moor win in more than a year.
Still, with one defeat in their last nine Championship outings, it’s a far more resilient Blues team these days, tantalisingly hinting that those nerve-racking days of scrambling to survival with two matches remaining are now well behind them.
How times have changed for Portsmouth
At this stage last year, they were hammered 4-0 at Birmingham, with Poole and Pack the sole starting XI survivors on Saturday. It was a dismal St Andrew’s defeat which dropped them into 20th.
How times change. Mousinho’s rejuvenated men are presently 11th in the table, three points adrift from West Ham in the final spot of the extended play-offs.
And for all Unsworth’s stinging criticism, Pompey remain 10 points ahead of a Burnley side which last season competed in the Premier League.
Granted, the Blues’ display in Lancashire can rightly be castigated in parts, certainly their attacking effectiveness is failing to keep pace with other improvements within the team’s heartening progress.
Adrian Segecic was unsurprisingly hauled off at half-time, Abu Kamara once again struggled, while Marko Milovanovic has perhaps demonstrated that striker scoring issues could actually be down to the tactical approach and playing system rather than individuals.
Nonetheless, while the Wolves trip highlighted this is now Mousinho’s strongest Championship squad, ongoing results continue to imply there will be no relegation battle this term.
In his role with BBC Radio Lancashire, Unsworth may not have been impressed by Saturday’s showing, yet the bigger picture is that, after 12 league matches, there are 13 clubs currently below the Blues in the table.
What’s more, for all his damning take on Pompey’s quality, Burnley failed to break them down and were booed at the final whistle. Irrespective of whether that was intended for the players or chairman Alan Pace, it reflects a club drowning in significantly more problems than their visitors.
Refereeing controversy
Had it not been for referee Ruebyn Ricardo, new head coach Celestini could have marked his birthday with a debut defeat, dragging the 22nd-placed club even deeper in the relegation mire.
Not that Pompey deserved to win the fixture, far from it, yet they have every reason to feel a little aggrieved by the match official’s decision to rule out Pack’s 14th-minute strike for a foul on the Clarets’ keeper.
Coudert came out to deal with Josh Laurent’s wild header, clambering over Ryan Kavuma-McQueen to successfully punch the ball clear as he did so.
It then helpfully fell to Pack on the edge of the area, who calmly steered the ball into the vacant net with a first-time right-footed shot - only for Ricardo to declare that Burnley’s keeper had been fouled by static Pompey’s England Under-18 international.
Unusually, Mousinho elected not to voice his complaints to the referee after the game, preferring to speak to a refereeing official on Sunday, citing ‘sometimes the high emotions post-game don’t particularly help, so I will leave it today’.
Nonetheless, it was a pivotal moment in the match which failed to go in Pompey’s favour - and would comfortably be the closest they came to breaking the deadlock. Another genuine criticism which should be levied at them.
Hard-earned point
The visitors were better after the break, with Ebou Adams’ introduction a key factor, yet still Coudert didn’t have a save to make, while their defensive unit, containing a recalled Jayden Meghoma and with Zak Swanson preferred to Terry Devlin at right-back, were superb throughout.
A hard-earned point ensures Pompey are now five matches unbeaten since the Southampton defeat during a period which was regarded as a potentially season-defining run of games.
Unsworth may have been unimpressed, but Millwall, Bristol City, Norwich, Wrexham, Watford, Derby and, of course, Burnley languish below. Enjoy the relegation fight, chaps.