Defensive worries for Pompey - but midfield gets a boost
Monday, 17th Mar 2014 21:45 by pompey-fans.com staff

Richie Barker has held his hands up to Pompey's ongoing defensive frailities - which returned to haunt them at Fleetwood after four successive shut-outs.

The Pompey boss admitted his team were not resolute enough in Saturday's 3-1 defeat - although felt one or two decisions went against Pompey.

Barker told The News: 'The first goal was poor defensively. They were more physical, stronger and more aggressive than us in our own box. That wasn’t great defending.

‘That penalty wasn’t one. You see people running into each other and, to be fair, I thought Dan stood his ground. They were both holding their own ground, the ball was going to go out of play over Dan’s head and the lads have run into each, I don’t think there was any intention from Dan to foul him.

‘If we had come in at 1-0 there would have been a little bit more belief. As it was, we talked at half-time about staying in the game and then unfortunately the third goal came after they had a corner.

‘In the end, their manager was making substitutions to break the game up, which proves we were on top for quite a while, but they had three goals.’

Meanwhile Pompey have loaned Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Rhys McCabe on loan until the end of the season and Toumani Diagouraga will be staying at Fratton Park for the remainder of the campaign.

Barker told the club website: 'We were eager to bring Rhys in when we knew he was available because he’s a quality player who will help keep possession in the centre of the park. He hasn’t been in the Sheffield Wednesday side recently and is hungry to play. He jumped at the chance to come here, which is a good sign.

'Toumani has got better and better with every game and I think he’ll have a big impact in our remaining matches this season.'