Portsmouth legend identifies sickness bug and second-half substitutions as factors in Harrogate Cup defeat

Yet the former Blues boss also questioned whether Danny Cowley’s substitutions played a part in the Fratton Park outfit’s 2-1 defeat to their League Two visitors.

Jack Diamond scored an injury-time winner for Simon Weaver’s side, after Ellis Harrison’s goal in first-half stoppage-time cancelled out Luke Armstrong’s opener on 44 minutes.

It brought an abrupt end to Pompey’s six-game winning streak and unbeaten recorded that stretched to nine matches.

Meanwhile, the loss sees the Blues fail to reach the third round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2017.

Pompey’s preparations for the game were, however, hampered by a sickness bug that went through the camp in the build-up.

Cowley admitted that up to 10 players were affected, with Joe Morrell and George Hirst unable to feature against Harrogate as a result.

Whittingham said that will have had an impact on the Blues.

However, he also raised the possibility of the head coach’s second-half changes affecting the outcome of the game.

Cowley swapped Kieron Freeman and Ellis Harrison for Lee Brown and Ronan Curtis respectively near the hour mark and subsequently changed his formation from a 3-5-2 system to a 4-4-2.

Speaking on BBC Solent after the game, Whittingham said: ‘I think it was the strongest side he (Cowley) could put out in terms of teams on paper.

‘It was interesting, he wasn’t making excuses (in his post-match interviews) but he mentioned several times about the illness through the camp.

‘Now we all know, when we’ve got a sickness bug it does sap the energy out of you, so whether that has had something to do with it or not, I don’t know.

‘Whether it had something to do with a couple of substitutions he made, I don’t know (either).

‘Certainly the questionable one is (Lee) Brown on for (Kieron) Freeman and then they go and change the shape.

‘When (Marcus) Harness went out of that middle area and (Michael) Jacobs came wide, I thought there was a bit of impetus that went Harrogate’s way then – because they had the players that looked like they were the ones who were going to unlock the opposition.

‘After that 60th-minute substitution it didn’t seem like Pompey were quite there to be able to do that.’

Cowley admitted to The News that he didn’t want to use the sickness bug as reason for his side’s early Cup exit.

Nor did he reveal who else had suffered from the bug.

Yet, Whittingham still had sympathy for the Blues boss if it was a factor in yesterday’s defeat.

He added: ‘If it’s a sickness bug, you don’t eat, do you, otherwise you’re just sick again.

‘And that’s why you’re energy goes because sportsmen, particularly footballers, they eat to get their energy and so they load up on that before games and so obviously weren’t able to do that.

‘Has that had an affect or not? We don’t know for sure but certainly that last 20 minutes Harrogate had more energy than Portsmouth.

‘More energy or desire? Or do the two go hand-in-hand? You can’t have the desire if you don’t have the energy to get to places and run back and get to the other end of the pitch, chase balls and all that sort of stuff.’