Portsmouth boss’ message to faithful amid protest noise with Championship survival at stake
Pompey fans have taken banners protesting over a perceived lack of Eisner investment to the clashes with Norwich City and Oxford United.
John Mousinho has called for Pompey fans to continue their backing for his side as frustration is aimed towards the club’s owners.
And the Blues boss stressed the three remaining games at Fratton Park will be ‘massive, massive’ occasions in the bid to remain in the Championship, as he stressed the importance of his club’s support.
Mousinho: ‘The backing against Oxford was incredible’
Mousinho thanked fans for their level of backing, as they responded to the 10-man Blues fighting to a 2-2 draw with relegation rivals Oxford United - despite being a man down for 73 minutes.
The past two games has seen supporters with banners airing their frustration at the level of investment from the Eisners travel to games.
Crucially none were on show in the stands during the draws with Oxford United and Norwich City, as fans focussed on staunchly backing their team.
Now Mousinho is hoping the focus can remain on carrying Pompey over the line this term, with six games remaining in the Championship survival fight.
Mousinho said: ‘The backing against Oxford was incredible.
‘I feel for the fans and what they had to see, because they would’ve wanted us to play like they did for the first 17 minutes. Thankfully we got the goal to reward them at the end.
‘The most important thing is to back the lads for the next six games.
‘Those three games at home are going to be absolutely huge for us. They are massive, massive games.
‘We know with the away support there’s going to be a lot of travel Friday and Saturday going up to Middlesbrough.
‘We have to do everything we can to give them a good afternoon, before we come back here Tuesday night and do it again.’
The Oxford draw sees Pompey remain a point outside the Championship drop zone, with all of their relegation rivals seeing spoils shared in their clashes yesterday.
The match was billed as a ‘must-win’ clash which left Mousinho feeling flat at the outcome, though the Pompey was roused by the spirit and commitment of his players.
He added: ‘It was an incredible effort off the back of a long trip on Friday.
Pompey boss: ‘The most important thing is to back the lads’
‘We played well to get ourselves back in the game Friday, so to do it again with 10 men, tired bodies and players playing their first minutes for a long time it was a brilliant effort - and the boys gave everything.
‘It’s incredibly tight and it’s in incredibly difficult circumstances we find ourselves in.
‘We’ve still got six games to play and by the time we’re back here next week, we will have those two home games.
‘So there’s still everything to play for. All we have to do for the next six games is put in the level of effort we’ve seen against Oxford.
‘If we put that level of effort, that care, fight and consistency into it, as we’ve seen against Oxford, we have enough quality to hurt sides - that’s what we’ve got to do.’