‘Thrown themselves to floor, fouled us, kicked us’: Stoke City boss insists Portsmouth ‘dark arts’ behind Fratton reverse

And the Stoke boss admitted his side couldn’t live with the Blues’ physicality, as they avenged their 6-1 thrashing in the corresponding fixture last October.

John Mousinho’s men ran out worthy 3-1 winners at PO4 last night to make it seven home games unbeaten, with 19 points collected from 21.

Stoke couldn’t deal with Pomoey’s ferocious start, a fact acknowledged by Robins, as he felt their opponents ‘manned’ his team outside the laws of the game to end their five-game unbeaten run.

Robins told the Stoke Sentinel: ‘I'm really disappointed. They set the tone right from the start and we didn't live with that. We allowed them to bully us all night. They got the first from what was a really soft penalty, I thought. I didn't think for one second he was going to give a penalty but then he's given a penalty. But it is what it is, I suppose if you've got hands on a back.

‘They've set their stall out, let's have it right. They've thrown themselves to the floor, they've fouled us, they've kicked us and we've had nothing because it's all the dark arts. They've all manned us tonight. People don't understand what that means, but they've got players who've experienced the other side of the game because they've come through a different route I suppose.

‘Colby Bishop, for instance, starting goal side of our defenders when the ball gets kicked, he just runs backs and blocks them for other runners going through. We've got understand it. It's old school, that's old school football and you've got to be able to deal with it and not just think teams are going to allow you to come and play.’

A clear hallmark of Pompey’s win was the intensity they maintained throughout the game, as they put in the hard yards with their pressing and recovery runs.

Robins added: ‘It's really disappointing because all they did was run harder, they run harder to get in behind, they run harder to get into positions to try to put your under pressure. That's how this team puts you under pressure. That's what they are, how they've been built.

‘We can show them everything we want to beforehand and if it still surprises you on the night then you're not going to get anything from the game. That's what happened.

‘We found ourselves a goal down from the penalty and then a punt down the middle, we allow it bounce and they get their first. It's really poor.

‘The goal we scored was a really well-worked goal but we didn't look like we were going to score after that and that's another disappointment. We got into decent positions from time to time, got to the edge of the box, transferred the ball onto the shooting foot - I'm thinking of Lewis Baker's chance - worked it really well but needed to get a shot away quicker. They are throwing bodies in and doing it all night.

‘Where they were miles better than us was in that physical department.’