Boss understands anger following Dons defeat
Boos rang out at Fratton Park as referee Charles Breakspear blew the final whistle.
A 2-0 home defeat to AFC Wimbledon was not the Christmas present that Pompey fans had hoped for.
But early goals from Frankie Sutherland and Matt Tubbs meant it was the visitors who claimed the Boxing Day spoils.
And Andy Awford had no complaints about the reaction from some of the supporters afterwards.
The Blues boss said: “I’ve never had a problem with them venting their anger. They pay their money and have every right to do that.
“I have a good relationship with them and all I ask is that they stay supportive during the 90 minutes.
“I’m sure a few of them aren’t happy with me at the moment because I’m the figurehead.
“But there’s no giving up from me. We’ve got a lot to sort out, but we’ll keep going and will have to work a lot harder to get some results.
“We thought we’d turned a bit of a corner at Cheltenham, but then we started slowly again.
“We switched off from two set-pieces and were punished for that. Wimbledon were ruthless.
“In between, we’ve hit the post – if that goes in then it’s 1-1 and we get the lift. There are fine margins.”
Pompey’s hopes of fighting back were dealt a blow midway through the second half when Dan Butler’s foul on George Francomb saw him collect a second booking of the afternoon.
Awford said: “We got some momentum going and then Dan, foolishly in my opinion, made a rash challenge.
“We were on the front foot and having our best spell at the time, so the red card knocked everybody’s belief.
“He didn’t need to do that. If he’s 17 and it’s his third or fourth appearance then I can understand it.
“He’s a good player and I like him, but it was a big learning curve for him because someone’s going to replace him in the side now.”