John Mousinho blasts referee after Portsmouth defeat v Blackburn

John Mousinho has raged at the officials after Portsmouth were beaten 3-0 by Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Wednesday.

Pompey were left seething as two strong penalty shouts were turned down, with Rovers taking full advantage to claim the three points.

The Blues are now back in the Championship relegation zone having played one of their two games in hand on 15 January, having initially seen the November fixture postponed.

"It was a much-improved performance from what we've seen away from home and I didn't have much to say to the lads in there, to be honest," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent (15 January).

"It's a very tough one to take. It was a clear penalty, and it's a double-whammy because we had two players down in the box - Callum [Lang] was taken out by their goalkeeper and then they go up the other end and score. I'm not a fan of VAR, but referees just need to be better.

"Colby [Bishop] should've had one as well. The defender gets the wrong side of him and then pushes him with two hands, and we don't get it.

"We've had some poor refereeing displays this season but it feels like a couple of times they've cost us, and this one definitely has. We could've done a few things better, but we need referees to be a lot better than they were here."

Portsmouth fume as Blackburn take advantage

If one didn't watch proceedings unfold at Ewood Park, they would be forgiven for checking the full-time result and writing it off as another poor away performance.

However, this was a night from which Portsmouth can feel hard done by. Wycombe was poor, Sunderland not a great deal better, and the displays at Bristol City and Derby were dreadful.

For Blackburn to win 3-0 will make John Eustace's side feel very fortunate.

It was goalless and deadlocked at half-time - either side could've nicked it. But for Pompey to be denied two clear penalties was mind-blowing.

Mousinho made his post-match comments before heading back in to address the issues with referee Farai Hallam, so it remains unclear what the reasoning behind his decisions was.

Ultimately, it's one the Blues can feel harshly treated in but must not dwell on, as promotion-chasing Middlesbrough are the next visitors to Fratton Park on Saturday (18 January).

In other Portsmouth news, Sammy Silvera was an example of an unfortunate feature in the pecking order at Fratton Park.

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