Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho was thrilled with his side’s performance after they returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory at 10-man Burton.
Mousinho was looking for a response after Saturday’s 4-0 home defeat to Blackpool and he got it thanks to Colby Bishop’s first-half penalty and Alex Robertson’s second-half finish – his first senior goal.
“With the context of everything that has happened over the past few days, with the blow to morale that we took on Saturday, the question was asked after the game ‘is this just a blip?’” the former Brewers midfielder said.
“I asked them for a solid grown-up performance where they had to show a lot of mettle and they did that in pretty much everything they did barring a 10-minute spell.”
Bishop failed to appear for the second half after picking up an ankle injury late in the first half.
“That is probably the only negative to come out of the game. I saw it right in front of me, he just went over on his ankle.
“It has swollen up. He tried to play on but couldn’t put any weight on it. He turns over his ankle, there is nothing we can about it, the pitch is fine, it wasn’t a bad challenge, just bad luck.”
Mousinho was delighted with Manchester City loanee Robertson getting off the mark as well.
He said: “I thought he was our best player on Saturday, shining light in a poor performance, and our best player again tonight.
“The only criticism I’ve had of him is the final (end) product and he has put it together tonight.”
Burton boss Dino Maamria was pleased with his side’s effort but felt they contributed to their own downfall at two crucial moments.
“We shot ourselves in the foot twice,” he observed.
“It is very harsh. I thought for 37 minutes we were well on top of the game and asking them questions. Their keeper made an unbelievable save from KB [Kwadwo Baah].
“We make a bad, bad decision where we give them the easiest penalty ever and when you give a team like Portsmouth a leg up, when you don’t need to, it is always going to make it difficult.”
Despite a strong start to the second half, Maamria saw his side threaten without finding the crucial equaliser before Pompey picked the Brewers off when Mark Helm and Kwadwo Baah collided with each other.
“The second goal came after we started the second half on the front foot and we were parked in their last third. We couldn’t get that goal and they scored from a transition,” he said.
Steve Seddon’s late sending off for a second bookable offence added to Maamria’s frustrations despite a positive response to Saturday’s defeat at Peterborough.
He added: “At two-nil and with a sending off it is game over when you give those teams as easy goals as we have but I have no complaints about the performance because I thought that was excellent.”
Object thrown at City striker 'Bunny' Shaw in Champions League win over Hammarby sparks UEFA investigation
UEFA has opened an investigation after Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw was hit by an object during their Women’s Champions League win against Swedish side Hammarby on Thursday.
The towering Jamaican striker scored both goals in City’s 2-1 win at the Stockholm Arena to see her side through to the quarterfinal stage.
Her animated celebration in front of the home fans after her first goal saw the 27-year-old being booked, with replays also showing an object seemingly thrown her way from the stands.
“Proceedings have been opened against Hammarby IF for throwing of objects (Article 16(2)(b) of the Disciplinary Regulations),” UEFA said in a statement.
“Manchester City player Khadija Shaw received a yellow card following her goal presentation for unsporting conduct,” the statement added.
Following the game, City captain Alex Greenwood chided match broadcaster DAZN for failing to mention the incident in a social media post.
The post on X, external said Shaw “antagonised” the home fans and received “stick” from them.
Greenwood replied, "Correction. Travel to Stockholm, score a big goal. Celebrates her goal. Gets objects thrown at her.”
Flick: Barcelona need to learn how to win without Yamal
Hansi Flick has urged Barcelona to find a way to win without the absent Lamine Yamal, as he misses a second consecutive match with an ankle injury.
The 17-year-old missed their 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad which halted Barca's seven-match winning streak in all competitions before the international break.
Yamal has only missed two LaLiga matches since the start of last season, while Barcelona have lost both games this campaign in which he has not started, after coming off the bench in a 4-2 loss to Osasuna in September.
Flick said that his players need to show that they can win without their teenage sensation.
"Tomorrow I will put the question to the team, it will be a very good question for them [if they can win without Yamal]," Flick told a press conference on Friday.
"Against Real Sociedad, we didn't play well, and it wasn't because of Lamine's absence. He is a very important player for us, but we have options to also play well without him.
"He won't be able to play tomorrow, we don't know when he will be able to go back from his injury, but what is clear for me is that we want him to be back only when he is 100% recovered."
Yamal played a big role in Spain's European Championship title win earlier this year in Germany, winning the best goal and the Young Player of the Tournament award in his breakthrough campaign.
He continued to thrive this season with five goals and seven assists to help Barca to the top of the LaLiga standings on 33 points, six ahead of rivals Real Madrid, who have a game in hand in second place.
Yamal is also the only player across Europe's big five leagues to complete 25+ dribbles (34), create 25+ chances (26), have 25+ shots (39), score 5+ goals (five) and provide 5+ assists (seven).
Flick suggested that he may have to adjust his system, as it is hard to replace a player with such a mixture of speed, technique and finishing.
"We might be a bit limited by the absence of Lamine," Flick said.
"But we have a lot of players with great quality, and they can play in different positions. We'll see what we'll need and we'll design the game plan.
"It's always important after the international break to come back strong and with confidence. That's our goal for tomorrow."
Moca FC's Baez, Correa sanctioned by Concacaf Disciplinary Committee for violent conduct in Carib Cup semis clash against Cavalier
The Concacaf Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned players Miguel Baez and Jesus Correa of Dominican Republic club Moca FC for incidents that occurred during their Concacaf Caribbean Cup second-leg semi-final match against Jamaica’s Cavalier FC on Thursday, October 30.
After considering the documentation and evidence gathered during its investigation and based on the competition regulations and the applicable disciplinary code, the Disciplinary Committee has imposed Miguel Baez a six-match suspension and Jesus Correa a three-match suspension for violent conduct.
The sanctions include the automatic one-match suspension for the on-field direct red cards given to each player during that 7-0 beating in Kingston.
Both Baez and Correa must serve their suspensions during the upcoming 2024 Concacaf Caribbean Cup third-place matches and future editions of the competition.
Moca FC is scheduled to meet Haiti's Real Hope FC in that home-and-away tie on November 26 and December 3 to determine the next Caribbean representative that will contest next year's Concacaf Champions Cup. Finalists Cavalier and Cibao FC, also of the Dominican Republic, have secured automatic berths.
Meanwhile, the Disciplinary Committee has also warned the players and the club that more severe sanctions could be taken should incidents occur during future matches.
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