Portsmouth landmark celebrations on ice for John Mousinho, but still plenty to cheer as Ipswich fume
The Blues boss was poised to reach a notable Fratton Park landmark before postponement of Tractor Boys fixture
The champagne celebration to mark John Mousinho’s admirable Pompey accomplishment remains on ice.
Not that the head coach could possibly begrudge such surprise developments. After all, the Ipswich postponement represented the perfect outcome.
Sunday’s Championship fixture would have represented Mousinho’s 150th match at the Fratton Park helm, following a January 2023 entrance which attracted a largely cold reaction at first.
Irrespective of the former Oxford United set-piece coach initially being derided as a rookie boss and cheap option, he is now second only to Kenny Jackett in terms of games totalled in a single managerial spell over the last 20 years.
Of course, Mousinho actually achieved what Jackett failed to realize, namely finally returning the Blues to the Championship under Tornante.
A postponement to benefit Portsmouth
Sunday’s postponement allows the army of walking wounded a little more time to heal before the next league outing in a fortnight as the head coach bids to keep the Blues there.
Just as crucial, hopefully there will now be new arrivals before tangling with Arsenal in the FA Cup (January 11) and, more importantly, for the trip to Sheffield Wednesday on January 17.
After 149 fixtures in charge of Pompey, Mousinho’s win ratio stands at an impressive 40.93 per cent, albeit a figure hugely skewed by successive relegation battles at this level, thereby arguably an inaccurate gauge of his standards.
Nonetheless, while Ipswich and their travelling supporters were fuming at the cancellation of Sunday’s game due to a frozen pitch, he would have been absolutely delighted.
Considering the lengthening injury list and being forced to name a side similar to the one trounced at Bristol City on New Year’s Day, few would have anticipated much joy against the then second-placed Tractor Boys.
As it was, postponement rather helpfully prevented the possibility of yet more misery being heaped on the Blues - and a boss coming under increased criticism from supporters.
Paranoia and accusations
Inevitably there were cries of foul play, a flood of accusations emanating from the Suffolk area centred on dastardly Pompey sabotaging the fixture to avoid facing Kieran McKenna’s men.
One particularly paranoid Ipswich fan even called for CCTV to be made public to prove that frost covers had actually been on the Fratton Park pitch over the previous 48 hours. He also raised the question of whether water had been sprayed on the grass to make it freeze.
It cannot possibly be argued that Pompey didn’t solely benefit from the postponement, with an absentee list containing Josh Murphy, Callum Lang, Colby Bishop, Mark Kosznovszky, Marlon Pack, Connor Ogilvie, Thomas Waddingham, Hayden Matthews, Florian Bianchini and the unavailable Conor Chaplin.
Of that 10-strong group, four would have been automatic starters against Ipswich if fit, potentially club captain Pack also. Not that the game actually took place, of course.
You can understand Ipswich’s frustration. They would have smelt blood after eyeing Pompey’s missing men, along with that 5-0 humiliation at Ashton Gate just three days earlier.
The Blues bench would have been packed with Academy kids, while the starting XI could potentially have consisted of several players who wouldn’t have even made the 20-man match-day squad had there been a clean bill of health in the camp.
Make no mistake, absolutely nobody in the home dressing room would have been cursing the calling off of the Championship fixture shortly after 11am.
Leigh Doughty’s decision
Ultimately, the decision was Doughty’s, with the Blackpool referee accompanied by both Mousinho and McKenna from 9am on two previous preliminary inspections of the Fratton Park playing surface.
In truth, their opinions didn’t matter and shouldn’t have had any sway with an experienced match official who has been refereeing in the Football League since 2019.
Regardless, with Pompey’s head coach reeling from a spate of bad luck with injuries to key performers since the Christmas period, the outcome represented a huge slice of good fortune at last.
Mousinho’s 150th Blues match can wait - arguably facing the Premier League leaders Arsenal in the FA Cup next Sunday adds a little more prestige to the accomplishment anyway.
In the meantime, Pompey have seven days to reduce their injury list and seven days to sign much-needed fresh recruits. The likelihood is they will possess a very different side when they next meet Ipswich.
Your Next Pompey Read: The inside track on the Pompey pitch postponement which infuriated Ipswich