'The criticism is fair': Danny Cowley agonises over the glaring Portsmouth weakness threatening to end promotion hopes after familiar Sunderland story

It was a familiar tale of woe for the Blues as their inadequacy in the final third was glaring at Sunderland.

Despite an excellent opening 30 minutes, Cowley’s men slipped to a 1-0 defeat at the promotion-hunting Black Cats.

It was a tight contest, nonetheless that’s now four blanks in their last six league fixtures.

And it’s a clear weakness Pompey’s head coach believes warrants questioning – and deserved criticism.

He told The News: ‘We are going to get criticised, we haven’t scored.

‘If I’m keeping it real then this isn’t the easiest place to come in a three-game week, particularly when Sunderland haven't played midweek.

‘It was also a very difficult pitch, but I can’t fault the players’ attitude and effort, I thought that was there.

‘I think we just need to go away and look at our quality in the final third, in terms of decision making and executive.

‘It’s fair to say we haven’t done well enough in that moment, even though on Saturday after half-an-hour we’d had shots.

‘Even in the last minute, George (Hirst) rises and has a clear header at the back post. The criticism you guys will give us is fair in my opinion.

‘There was very little in the game. Sunderland are one of the best teams in this league and we competed and matched them, there was very little in it.

‘Certainly my feeling was a draw would probably have represented the performances of both teams, but we are on the wrong side of it at the minute.

‘I have a lot of confidence that we perform like that and we can try to improve in the final third – which we will – we will turn these tight games and get on the right side.’

Pompey have netted just three times in the league since a 1-0 triumph at Gillingham on November 27.

During that six-game spell, just Marcus Harness, Connor Ogilvie and George Hirst have managed to find the net.

On the flip side, only three goals have been conceded – the most recent being Elliot Embleton’s 41st-minute winner on Saturday.

Cowley added: ‘In the first 30 minutes there was a lot to like about our performance.

‘We had good control, a good tempo to us, created some chances – and you can’t play that well and not score the first goal.

‘Then we conceded. It’s a difficult pitch, some of them had some problems early in the game in terms of trying to build from the first line, the should have learnt from their mistakes.

‘Instead they didn’t and lost it. It’s just a young player (Hayden Carter) learning the game and we commit to the way we want to play.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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