Portsmouth boss reveals why he dropped key defender as lapses at back lead to awful MK Dons defeat
Danny Cowley explained Sean Raggett’s absence against MK Dons was tactical as his team fell to a demoralising low at Fratton Park.
The Blues boss wanted to utilise Clark Robertson’s ball-playing quality from the middle of his side’s back three in Saturday’s bleak 2-0 defeat to the strugglers.
That led to the call to drop Raggett to the bench and end an unbroken 44-game starting run in League One - stretching back to the win at Gillingham in November of last year.
It was a move which will be under the microscope in the wake of the poor goals conceded by Pompey in Raggett’s absence.
Cowley spoke honestly about his thought process in making the move, in the wake of result which ranks as a low ebb this season for the Blues.
He felt the decision helped Pompey to assume a good place in the game in general play.
But ultimately any benefit in doing so was outweighed by the poor manner of the goals Cowley’s side shipped.
Cowley said: ‘Sean’s fit, it was just tactical really (why he didn’t play).
‘We played MK Dons recently and we wanted to take the ball off them.
‘So we thought Clark in the middle could help with a really good range of passing.
‘We’ve not won enough games at home recently, so it was an offensive decision and an offensive tactical decision.
‘Some of our play between the boxes was good, but ultimately that’s irrelevant with the two soft goals we conceded.’
Pompey’s defensive errors were the obvious factor in their downfall, against opposition who went into the match with one league win in 11 and started the day with goal difference separating them from the bottom of the table.
It meant a promising opening where they carved out openings and got into promising positions amounted to nothing, when the visitors scored from their first shot on goal.
That is now a recurring pattern which Cowey is at a loss to explain.
Cowley said: ‘I don’t know, I don’t know (why teams are scoring from their first entry into Pompey’s box).
‘Sometimes there’s anomalies, but it’s something we’re aware of.
‘Both home and away we seem to concede to the first attack.
‘It’s incredibly frustrating for us, especially when we’ve had some good chances in that opening period.
‘But if you concede two goals like that you will lose football matches.’