‘Need to improve’: The glaring fault killing Portsmouth's promotion charge

John Mousinho is adamant goal threat remains in his Pompey side as they struggle for a cutting edge.

But the Blues boss acknowledged his team’s recent lack of creativity has been an issue which they have focussed on remedying.

Pompey go to Fleetwood looking to improve a run of just four goals from open play in the past six games - with one of those Tom Bradbury’s own goal at Cheltenham.

Making the most of getting into promising positions is an issue Mousinho admitted needed looking at moving forward, but he can see his side finding the answers.

He said: ‘One of the things we copped a bit of criticism for earlier in the season was those two 0-0 draws with Cheltenham and Stevenage. We turned that around and I think there’s always goals in the side and squad.

‘We obviously need to score a few more and make the most of our chances.

‘For the most part this season I haven’t felt we were lacking in creativity, though sometimes we haven’t had that ruthless cutting edge. A couple of games that spring to mind are Cheltenham and Bristol Rovers, where we should’ve won the games, if we were a bit more clinical in front of goal. We do need to improve on that.'

Pompey’s defensive record was the best in the division until shipping three goals at home to Leyton Orient last weekend.

After digesting Pompey’s dismal 3-0 home defeat to Leyton Orient, Mousinho was disappointed with what he saw in terms of his sides quality going forward - but also work rate.

That was a disappointment, but something the head coach feels can be remedied moving forward.

He said ‘Last weekend was a bit false. We had plenty of opportunities but were booted a bit by the penalty. That was a bit of a false one though, I was disappointed with our attacking and defensive output at the weekend.

‘One of the things I have been critical of in recent weeks has been our quality in the final third. thought were lacking in our quality in the final third as well as hunger and work rate last weekend.

‘It’s by no means a positive what happened, but if we put a few of those things right we can turn that around.

‘A theme after Cheltenham was we got into good areas and didn’t take advantage.of it. We didn’t test the keeper.

‘So it’s been a focus this week that when we get into good areas we test the keeper more, score a few more goals and show some more creativity. That’s really important to us that we keep trying to score.

‘We’ve had a very good defensive record until recent games, where it was the best record in the league. We need to build on that and score more goals. If we keep clean sheets it’s half the job, but we need to put balls into the back of the net at the other end.’