‘Just ruins the game’ – Portsmouth boss accuses Sheffield Wednesday after Fratton Park defeat

The Owls ran out as 1-0 winners on Saturday afternoon to take their lead over second-placed Plymouth Argyle to three points, but they had to dig deep against a tough Pompey side, and also had to battle it out with 10 minutes for the latter part of the tie.

Wednesday spent large portions of the game under pressure, and half of the amount of shots as the hosts on the day (12/6), but in the end there were only two shots on target from each side – and Darren Moore’s side scored one of theirs.

Mousinho, who saw his team’s five-game unbeaten home run come to an end, said that he wanted to see more from the officials – insisting that the game was ruined because of what he says Wednesday were allowed to get away with.

“They were time-wasting from very early on,” Mousinho told the club’s official website. “And it was something the referee had to get a grip on… I asked him early on if he could speed things up because whenever we won a free-kick, Sheffield Wednesday players would kick the ball away.

“It was completely obvious to me and the fourth official was acknowledging it, but we didn’t see any improvement and that was frustrating for the fans.

“I thought the refereeing unit could have done more about it early on because otherwise it just ruins the game.”

He did admit, however, that it’s no surprise to see the Owls where they are in the league, saying, “As soon as they got that goal, they seemed relatively content and naturally started to go a bit deeper.

"You could see why they are top because they are very well organised and it’s a good lesson for us… It was still promising, though, and there are loads of positives we can take, while also plenty to work on.”

Wednesday won’t mind the complaints at all, of course, with three points in the bag and their unbeaten run up to 22 games – now they turn their attentions to Bolton Wanderers on Friday night.

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