The defiant message from Portsmouth dressing room after Watford heartache as eyes turn to Bristol City

The Blues midfielder is clear the performance produced in yesterday’s 2-1 loss at Vicarage Road means John Mousinho’s men will carry impetus forward in the Christmas period.

It was a gut-wrenching stoppage-time reverse against Tom Cleverley’s side, who are unbeaten on home soil this season.

Zak Swanson’s finish gave Pompey the lead, before the match officials inexplicably conspired to give a penalty for a foul by Freddie Potts on Kwadwo Baah outside the box.

That was converted by Edo Kayembe, before the knife was twisted into the Blues five minutes into stoppage time by Rocco Vata.

It was rough justice on Pompey but Dozzell feels the dressing room know they have matched a powerful opponent - and that forms part of a regular pattern at Championship level and improvement in results.

Dozzell said: ‘The result is devastating because Watford are a good side, but I thought we played well and defended well. I think we stood up to the challenge and we gave it everything.

‘Decisions didn’t go our way but that is out of our hands. The penalty was outside the box and the referee could see it was, but the lino gave it for some reason. I don’t know what he’s seen, it’s clearly outside.

‘There are some things you can’t control, but we have to accept it and move on You need the officials to help you out when it’s clear and it’s frustrating.

‘To lose like that is gutting but we’re capable of bouncing back. We know what we can do when we’re at it.’

‘Everyone is giving everything.

‘We work so hard and we don’t need to lose momentum. After that performance we would probably have been disappointed with a draw, so come away with nothing is doubly frustrating.

‘But we’ve shown a lot of improvement in the past couple of months, so we’ll stay positive and keep pushing forward. We’ll keep going and there’s a lot of optimism looking ahead.