Defending - and manager - in spotlight as Pompey lose again
Wednesday, 26th Mar 2014 00:01 by pompey-fans.com staff

Another poor night for Pompey intensified their relegation battle and heaped more pressure on manager Richie Barker.

A 3-0 defeat away to leaders Rochdale was by no means their worst result of another wretched season but it is their third straight loss and means they have scored just once in six games this month.

Barker criticised his team's defending and said the loss was frustrating because they were not outplayed.

He told The News: ‘Every time we think we’ve solved a problem and moved on to a different problem, the other problem crops back up again because of the mental capacity to take the information on board — and that is aggression to win a header in your own box.

‘It’s not as if they carved us up, it was a set-piece, two headers and a long ball where we have just not defended it.’

Pompey are just two points above 23rd-placed Northampton - and would have been ahead of them only on goals scored had AFC Wimbledon not hit the Cobblers with a late equaliser.

The Blues go to another out-of-form side - Newport County - on Saturday.