Pompey boss John Mousinho gives his Port Vale verdict after 1-0 win - and speaks on the latest transfer news with deals close for Reading and Wigan Athletic pair.
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00:00 Here with Pompey boss John Massina. John, sometimes you think you've seen it all in football and then you see scenes that happen late today, the late goal and then what happened afterwards and then your boys standing firm and keeping their heads. How pleased are you with their response to the late drama here?
00:14 I think if you rewind to the penalty incident and having obviously been awarded the penalty and the time it took to actually take it after, I think two or three minutes, Colby had to wait and compose himself and think about the gravity of that penalty and what it meant in this game for this season but also I think naturally you're going to be playing on your mind that he missed one a couple of weeks ago.
00:34 I think all of those things led it to being even more important and even more credit should go to Colby for putting it in the back of the net. And then to deal with what we dealt with after, first of all we don't want to see any of that on a football pitch, it was a really bizarre incident.
00:49 Thankfully nothing happened and the referee managed to evade the fan. Just very, very strange but I think for the boys to compose themselves after that and some really young lads out on the pitch as well to make sure they dealt with the barrage after that for six or seven minutes, that's how you win games I think at any level but particularly at this level if you go on a late away from home you're going to have to sustain attacks and corners and crosses and we did that really well.
01:12 Performance wise, plenty of good pressure, good chances, good positions in the game and then eventually seeing it through at the end?
01:19 I think you described it really well, I thought it was a really, really good performance. We controlled the game from start to finish, we dealt with their physical threat whether it was Ippiatu or Loft coming on, Wilson's physical as well so we dealt with that threat, we dealt with anything I thought that Port Vale threw at us particularly as a back four.
01:36 Chance after chance I thought we created good opportunities, that was my only criticism of the boys at half-time and the lads know it, the lads say it anyway when they're coming in, they made it hard for themselves by not putting the ball in the back of the net. Some really good opportunities I think they created but you've got to stay with it in those moments and the lads did that.
01:52 The goal came from us being aggressive on the edge of the box with Conor's tackle, with Abs getting his player and that's what we've got to keep doing. I think if there is one area of improvement from today it's making sure we put the ball in the back of the net and we're a bit more ruthless.
02:04 How do you go about doing that, is it the final execution, the right decisions being made there and a little bit of detail?
02:12 I think so and a lot of that will come with players getting better as they mature and they have more game time. We've got two really young wingers who have just gone from strength to strength this year and when they're on it they're on it and Abs probably had one of his, I thought he was brilliant in terms of his work rate and keeping at it in a threat, when he got into those moments in the final third it didn't quite come off him but the message is exactly the same, keep getting at your man, keep getting at your man for as many minutes as you can because that happens and I was really impressed with that.
02:41 I thought Paddy looked like a real threat as well and to have that, the young three in behind Colby with Miles making his debut for us as well, I'm really pleased. Those players will develop and they'll keep developing and they'll get better and better.
02:55 Our first sight of Miles Pitt, Harris, plenty of indications of why you wanted to get him in the Portford Football Club?
03:00 Yeah, I mean, probably or definitely surpassed expectations, first of all being able to play the full game, physically look very, very strong, competed, ran, did his job in terms of locking out what we needed him to lock out defensively and then you can see the qualities there, you can see the classes there, I thought he fit really well into the system and yeah, I thought it was a really, really promising debut, I thought he was superb too, honest.
03:24 Yeah, Marlon Pack not involved today, can you just give an update on that situation?
03:28 Yeah, Marlon just was ill this morning and tried to get through it but couldn't keep any food down and you know, testament I think, first of all testament to Marlon because he was desperate to try and warm up and play but he was really struggling.
03:41 He would have done it for the team if we'd have asked him to do but I think when you've got players like Tom Lowry who initially found himself out of the side and coming back into it today at very, very short notice, I thought he was absolutely outstanding, Tom today.
03:55 I can't think of anything that he did wrong in the game so for him to come in and do that, really, really pleased and emphasises the importance of the squad and things that the lads have to do to make sure they come in and they're ready.
04:05 Obviously a busy period off the pitch now, a name emerging in McIntyre, the Reading defender, can you give us any indications there on what's happening?
04:12 Yeah, obviously I think predictably you know my answer in terms of players contracted to other clubs but genuinely also over the last 48 hours I've switched off completely from what's going on there because Rich and Andy and Tony and Phil, they want us to concentrate on trying to win games of football which we have to do when it comes to tough matches like this.
04:33 So that's been the case over the last 48 hours and I will catch up with Rich now and see where we are with any developments.
04:39 When I asked you about Cullum Lange as a follow-up question I expect probably the similar response.
04:43 Yeah, same as we spoke about on Wednesday I think when we got together. Again I think until otherwise then we'll just refrain from commenting and again I have no idea where anything's moved over the last 24, 48 hours either.
04:57 Would you, I mean as much as you wouldn't need an update, do you expect it going late in the window as it often does or can you think there's anything more imminent?
05:03 I think it will go late. You know we can see that there's a lot of activity now and I think hopefully it's one game, of course it's one game but you can see why we wanted to wait for someone like Mars to come in and you know we want to do the same in terms of bringing in any other quality.
05:17 We want to make sure that we bring the right players in at the right time and the right for the football club so yeah I think so.
05:23 We're planning on a full day on Thursday I think it is up at the training ground so yeah we're planning for that and you know if nothing comes off or if we've got all our business done then great but yeah we'll be there till late.
05:35 One you might be able to offer some insight into is Abu Kamara being linked with a couple of Championship clubs. A lot of Pompey fans wondering whether there'll be a recall this month. There's obviously something you might be able to update us on him staying for the season.
05:45 Yeah there's no recall from Norwich anymore. That date's passed so as far as I'm concerned and we've heard nothing else from Norwich, Abu is going to be a portion of the player for the rest of the season.
05:56 And also you've always had nothing but positive indications over that situation from Norwich haven't you?
06:00 Norwich have been brilliant. First of all letting us have the player which they rate really highly and then we're in constant communication with them about Abs and his progress and how well he's done.
06:10 The plan for us is to return Abu to Norwich at the end of the season ready to be a Championship player. We absolutely love him, we think he's brilliant and that's what we have to do at this stage and all we can focus on is just keeping him fit and keeping him firing for the rest of the season.
06:26 Another slightly tenuous link that's come up in the last couple of days, I think it is tenuous, is Koldy Bishop being linked with Millwall. Is there anything on that?
06:33 I've heard absolutely nothing from my end and again even though I have switched off from any chance for activity I'm sure if there had been anything in it then that might have been one where Richard did pick up the phone so no, nothing in it as far as I'm concerned.
06:46 And obviously you know when you've got a promotion push you're not in the mind to let your key players leave the club?
06:50 No and that's been a big part of what we're trying to build here and a big part of the message from the owners as well. They've said if bids come in there's no financial pressure on the club needing to sell players which is great. I think they've put us in a very, very strong position. I've not had any communication from any player indicating they want to go anywhere.
07:11 They all seem happy and they all seem like they're very willing to fight for what we're trying to achieve this year and I think today was a brilliant example of that.
07:19 Back-to-back wins now on the road and momentum being built again?
07:23 Yeah it was a tough couple of weeks. A tough week I think after the Orient game and it should have been because we were really poor and I think there were questions that were being asked and I think a really important thing for us now is to keep asking those questions.
07:35 So to keep asking how we can improve after today going into the Oxford game and then going into the game at the weekend. We've got to stay on top of ourselves. We can't let anything slip now at this stage of the season because of how competitive it is at the top of the league and these wins are massively important.
07:47 We've got to keep going and hopefully produce something by the end of the season.
07:52 Cheers.