It was not lost on John Mousinho that Pompey went from one extreme to the other in losing 1-0 at AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday. But if there are inconsistencies inhis side's efforts, after they put nine past Crawley Town at the weekend, he's happy they're getting them out of their system now.

Pompey looked off the pace at Wimbledon, a far cry from the clinical display that had seen off Crawley behind closed doors.

He told the club media after the loss: 'It was disappointing to lose and we probably deserved to, although there were some good spells in there. We were a bit sloppy in possession and gave the ball away a few too many times, so there’s plenty to work on.

'A positive is the amount of chances we created in the second half and finding the net – which we didn’t have any trouble doing at the weekend – is the next step. We didn’t get carried away after the Crawley game and we’re not going to get too down after this one because the most important thing is minutes.

'It’s never going to be smooth with so many new signings coming in – across the front six, five of them arrived over the summer. This is the time to get those teething problems out of the system and there are plenty of training sessions left – plus another game on Saturday – before we start league action.'

Any fears that Colby Bishop was absent because of interest from other clubs was played down in Mousinho's explanation of why he didn't play. Sean Raggett was also missing while Paddy Lane picked up an ankle injury.

The manager said: 'It was just a bit of fatigue for Colby after the weekend because he hadn’t featured since we played Europa. Sean picked up a back spasm yesterday, but he trained this afternoon and so it’s already looking better for him.

'It’s too early to say about Paddy. It didn’t look great when he was limping off, but he seems a lot better and can now put pressure through his ankle.'

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