Honest words of Portsmouth manager could spark reaction as Sheffield Wednesday prepare for big crowd response

Rookie Portsmouth boss John Mousinho watched on as Barnsley dominated his Pompey side, winning out by a 3-1 scoreline, to go fourth in the table and cling on to the coattails of the automatic promotion shake-up.

And while Mousinho accepted that Barnsley were deserving of the points on the night, it was public comments on the attitude of his players that could spark a reaction at Fratton Park on Saturday in front of what looks set to be a season-record crowd.

“Barnsley were better than us on the night, we made a couple of big mistakes,” Mousinho told club media.

“That’s fine, making mistakes trying to play, we can live with that. It’s the reaction after that that was disappointing, I felt we went into out shells a bit and when Barnsley got the second it was a different ball game.

“We have to make sure we stay in games at 1-0 and on the other side of it, when we get back into the game at 2-1 we have to stay in it for a bit longer.

“That’s the first time in my time here that I’ve found myself disappointed with the reaction to the goal. It’s not the goal itself, what was disappointing was the reaction. I wanted to see a reaction.”

Wednesday are unbeaten in over five months in league football and will hope the reaction of Mousinho’s players isn’t too fierce come the weekend.

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