Paul Cook was quick to take the blame - and the heat off his under-performing players - after Pompey's latest night-to-forget in a season that's had too many off-days for the liking of many.
Cook refused to publicly criticise the team after a 3-1 defeat at York that all but put paid to their last hopes of sneaking into the top three and claiming automatic promotion.
He told The News: ‘We were outplayed, we have conceded poor goals early on, they were breaking on us at will and we were giving the ball away cheaply. It was a really poor night but my job is to shoulder that blame for the players.
‘If we win games everyone wants to say what a good manager I am — when you lose you must take that criticism. I prefer to take all the criticism that is going because I feel as manager of the club that is my job to do.
‘Just after half-time York were still creating chances, we couldn’t stem the tide. We can talk all night about how bad we were. We haven’t offered up performances like that too much but have done it at a really crucial time. We are all very disappointed but we must move on.'
Pompey now face two critical games - at home to Wycombe and away to AFC Wimbledon, two of their rivals for a play-off place - and they must come through them in better shape than was on display at York - or even that play-off spot might not materialise.
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