Boss criticises Blues' lack of consistency
Paul Cook believes that Pompey’s drab defeat to Newport sums up their season.
They were beaten 3-0 by the Welsh side, with Darren Jones, Scott Boden and Dean Morgan all finding the target at Fratton Park.
Gary Roberts’ controversial red card for two bookable offences was another negative for the hosts.
All that came after they had been in scintillating form to win at promotion rivals Accrington earlier in the week.
And Cook is frustrated that Pompey’s chronic lack of consistency has reared its ugly head yet again.
The Blues boss said: “It summed our season up in one game – we promised so much and failed to deliver.
“That’s where we are as a team at the moment and we haven’t put the sides above us under enough pressure.
“We must give Newport great credit because they were the better team and deserved to win.
“But there were so many plaudits after the performance at Accrington and you can’t go from that to the type of performance we’ve just delivered.
“We’re a League Two club with League Two players and a League Two manager – with that you’ll get inconsistencies.
“The teams that go up will have less of that, but in my opinion we’ve had too much this season to get promoted automatically.
“With 10 games to go you never give up hope – but I’m not sure you’ll ever get the belief that a win against Newport would have cemented in us all.
“No matter what happens for us from now until the end of the season, that display will mean there’s a squiggle against our name.
“I really thought we were getting to that place where I wanted us to be, but unfortunately it’s like snakes and ladders for us and we’ve just dropped down again.
“I’ve got no interest in talking about refereeing decisions because we were flat and it’s my job to pick everyone up.”
Cook understood the frustration of the Fratton faithful, who once again came out in large numbers to back their side.
He said: “We thought we’d just turn up and it would happen for us, so I have to apologise to our supporters.
“Players and staff – we all have to take responsibility for that because we’ve let everyone down.”
Watch Cook’s thoughts on the game below or subscribe to Pompey PlayerHD for more post-match content.