John Mousinho hails Portsmouth performance but bemoans penalty decisions

Posted Sunday, November 03, 2024 by PA

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho praised his team for delivering their best 45 minutes of the season after they drew 1-1 at Hull – but criticised the officiating.

Hull were booed off by a section of their fans after bottom side Portsmouth’s much-improved second-half showing including Josh Murphy’s deflected strike to equalise.

Portsmouth were denied a first-half penalty when Callum Lang was challenged by Xavier Simons – and then again in the second period when Kusini Yengi was met by Charlie Hughes. The Portsmouth manager also felt Hughes should have been sent off in a separate incident.

Mousinho said: “I think it was our best 45 minutes by a long way so far this season. We were a bit more aggressive in the second half, a bit more front-footed.

“Even after scoring the goal we still stayed on the front foot and didn’t drop off. What it took was a bit more bravery and athleticism.

“There’s a big expectation here (from the home fans) when a side bottom of the league comes to a side like Hull, especially when you go a goal up early. Probably a lot of people in the stadium might have thought that might have been it. We didn’t think that, we didn’t believe it.

“We showed when we do things right we are definitely at the level.”

On the officiating, Mousinho said: “They were two penalties. We have seen them back. The first one on Callum Lang, the defender just takes his legs out from underneath him. 99.9 per cent of the time the one on Kusini Yengi is also given, and 100 per cent of the time outside the box.

“I’ll go and speak to the referee and try to get his thinking. The other big decision was what I thought was a red card as well for Charlie Hughes, not for the penalty incident but for dragging Matt Ritchie down when he is through on goal in the second half.”

Hull manager Tim Walter started with Joao Pedro, who scored his first goal for the club, before his men lost their way and the team were booed off at full-time.

Walter said: “I think everybody is frustrated. I can understand. We played a really good first half but the problem was that we did not score the second.

“The players are human and it can happen that you really try to play forward but you lose in some critical situations.

“We need to stick together. We want to do better. All we want to do is create a good mood, a good family. It’s not always possible.

“We need our fans so much. Sometimes it’s not possible and they have to understand. I could not understand it sometimes as well. But they are all humans and they want to do it better. We can learn out of this situation and these mistakes.

“Together everything is easier – that’s what I said to my boys. We behave as a team and as a family and then everything is easier. That’s what we need and therefore we need our fans as well.

“To be honest it feels like a defeat. We wanted to do better but unfortunately we couldn’t in the second half.”

On the officiating he said: “We had in the last few games a lot of situations that were not on our side so maybe we were a bit lucky today.”