‘Portsmouth isn’t the place for you to be’: Boss’ message to players as pressure is ramped up with season on brink of collapse

John Mousinho has demanded Pompey deal with the pressure of turning their fracturing promotion push around.

And the Blues boss warned time will quickly run out for his side, if they don’t deliver results to stop their stalled Championship charge from completely breaking down.

Mousinho’s side fell to a shambolic 3-0 defeat to Leyton Orient on Saturday, collapsing in terrible 20-minute period in which they shipped three first-half goals and missed a penalty.

That made it just one win in six League One fixtures and a single success from seven in all competitions.

It now means Bolton are two points behind with three games in hand, while form side Peterborough can overtake Pompey as they sit a point behind having played a game fewer. Derby are four points behind in fourth with two games in hand.

The frustration and anger was palpable on Saturday, with boos from the Fratton faithful - which Mousinho acknowledged was more than justified.

He now has called on his players to show the minerals to turn things around with the heat turned up.

Mousinho said: ‘The pressure is there every single day and the pressure has been there since the first day of pre-season. I’ve always felt it’s been there since the first game I walked through the door against Exeter - and it hasn’t changed.

‘We haven’t earned anything at this stage of the season.

‘Pressure is a great thing to have and I’d much rather be battling at the top of the league and answering questions of us, because our form hasn’t been great.

‘We’re still in first position and I’d much rather have those demands. If you don’t want those demand then Portsmouth isn’t the place for you to be.’

Pompey now go on the road for three games, in which they have to turn around results to stop worrying form becoming terminal for their automatic hopes of reaching the Championship. It’s clear they will have to instantly eradicate traits evident on a day which was a low for Mousinho’s 12-month tenure at PO4.

He added: ‘We were really wasteful in possession and were a yard off everything out of possession. The second and third goals summed that up, a yard off that in the box.

‘We had corner after corner and either hit the first man or put it in the goalkeeper’s hands. ‘Orient had corners, they put them in and attacked them properly. We paid the price and that was really disappointing.

‘We needed to score to change the dynamic and put pressure on Orient, but we didn’t do that. We put pressure on Orient, but never looked like threatening the goal.

‘That wasn’t a side that reflects what we do week in, week out. We were lacking and we have to look at this and realise results haven’t been good enough in the last six games.

‘You don’t become a bad side overnight, but time will also run out very quickly if we don’t do the right things now.’