Referee’s big admission over key incident in Portsmouth’s MK Dons defeat

But Danny Cowley was adamant his team couldn’t blame that moment for the dreadful Fratton Park reverse to the strugglers.

Pompey were left fuming over Josh Koroma’s second-half goal being incorrectly chalked off in Saturday’s 2-0 loss.

Koroma was deemed to have been offside from Jay Mingi’s through ball, before he advanced and finished 10 minutes after the restart.

The pass was deliberately played by MK Dons defender Warren O’Hora, however, which should have rendered the Huddersfield loanee onside under the current offside law.

Cowley was fuming over the call and received a booking for his protests, but the Pompey boss explained the referee admitted he was in the wrong after the game.

He said: ‘There were two really poor decisions.

‘Josh Koroma goes through one-on-one in the first half, he’s clean in and it’s not offside

‘Then the second one in the second half, Josh obviously scores.

‘The ref has apologised, because ultimately he’s blown his whistle too early.

‘It wasn’t even offside, first and foremost, but once their player plays the ball even if he’s offside it becomes onside under the new rules. That’s in the laws.’

Cowley was clear the referee’s decision to rule out Koroma’s goal was painful to Pompey with the score 1-0 at the time of the incident.

The Pompey boss was clear, however, his team paid for their own defensive deficiencies first and foremost.

He said: ‘The referee has made a mistake and we’ve paid for that.

‘The big moments have a big influence on the game, but ultimately we’ve conceded two soft goals and we’ve got only ourselves to blame.

‘It’s the soft goals we conceded.

‘Those are the bits we’re disappointed with and the things we can control.

‘If you concede two soft goals you make things harder for yourself.’