Portsmouth boss John Mousinho refused to blame Joe Morrell and Abu Kamara after their missed penalties sent his side crashing out of the EFL Cup at the hands of 10-man League One rivals Peterborough.

Kamara had the chance to send Pompey into round three but blazed his penalty over the bar before Wales international Morrell sent his crashing against the post as Posh triumphed 5-4 in the shootout after a 1-1 draw.

Mousinho said: “I have no problem with that, I’ve been in those situations, it’s really difficult and you have to have a lot of steel to step up and take one.

“We’re obviously disappointed at not getting through to the next round.

“We had plenty of chances but couldn’t put them away.

“Christian Saydee was excellent tonight. A massive presence and a thorn in their side throughout and I was delighted he got the goal.”

Posh took the lead after 29 minutes when an in-swinging corner caused Pompey problems and David Ajiboye bundled the ball home from close range.

It took only six minutes of the second half for Pompey to equalise as a cross from Paddy Lane fell to Saydee who, with his back to goal, swivelled to fire superbly past goalkeeper Fynn Talley.

Peterborough’s Charlie O’Connell saw red after a second yellow card for a foul on Terry Devlin in the 59th minute, having already been booked for kicking the ball away in the first half.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson said: “I was so proud of the team tonight. They’ve brought on half the team who will start on Saturday, we’ve gone down to 10 men and we’ve managed to dig it out.

“If we had lost in the last minute or on penalties, I would have still been proud of them. They gave everything.

“This was as important a game as any other game this season. I need to see who can step up to the first team and there were some good performances out there tonight.

“We scored a really good goal, had other chances and should have had a penalty as well.”

John Mousinho slammed the decision to send off Portsmouth’s Joe Rafferty and Stevenage’s Jake Forster-Caskey after a feisty 0-0 draw at the Lamex Stadium.

The two players were shown red by referee Simon Mather when a 50-50 challenge seemed to spark a skirmish on the floor during the second half of the League One clash.

Jordan Roberts came closest to scoring when the Boro forward hit the post from outside the box late in the first period.

“I think it was bizarre,” said Mousinho.

“We have just watched it back there, there is nothing in it.

“Rafferty and the lad on the floor have a little coming together, the referee does not deal with it and decides to send both players off.

“I just thought, from what I could see, the Stevenage player did not do anything to Rafferty or vice versa.

“Honestly, I don’t know, I think both players were really shocked.

“I just spoke to Rafferty there, he said there was nothing in it, so a bit of a strange one.

“It was a tough game to assess I think, it was another bizarre afternoon of football ruined by things that happened off the pitch.

“We are disappointed to come away with another draw, this is a really tough place to come, Stevenage are very well organised and good at what they do.

“We really opened them up towards the end, it was a very strange last half-hour because of the sendings-off.”

However, Boro boss Steve Evans insists the sending-off swung the match in Pompey’s favour.

“That changed the momentum a little because we were so far on top at that stage,” said Evans.

“That probably helped the Pompey lads a little bit more than us.

“I 100 per cent did not see it, if I saw it and my player was out of order then I would say it.

“I think they are under huge pressure aren’t they, we are under our own pressure.

“This is Portsmouth Football Club, look at the support they bring and the press coverage they demand because they are such a great club.

“I think John is a good young manager but he will learn along the way, won’t he?

“We will take the point; we will regroup, and we will go again.

“I don’t think there was a lot to split the teams at the end if you take the whole 90 minutes in.

“I think everyone will go home and say they will take the point, a hard-earned point.

“I think if you listen to every pundit and press report coming into the game, you would have thought it was lambs to the slaughter today, but little lambs bite sometimes.”

John Mousinho called on his Portsmouth team to be more ruthless after seeing them beat Exeter 1-0 at Fratton Park.

Colby Bishop’s second-half strike was enough to settle a keenly contested game.

Mousinho said: “I thought we were excellent in the first half. The only thing we didn’t do was put the ball in the back of the net.

“It was a different story in the second half. Exeter made some changes which I thought would leave them a bit exposed in places for the counter-attack.

“If I could criticise anything, it’s that we need to take our chances. We had some good opportunities up to and after the goal.

“We also have to learn to manage the game better. We didn’t do that particularly well in the last 10 minutes.

“We made some rash decisions and although we are a youngish team, I think we’ve got enough experience on the pitch to deal with it.

“Having said that, it was a well-deserved win off the back of a totally different game at the weekend. I’m absolutely thrilled.”

With both sides coming into the game unbeaten, it was Bishop who ended Exeter’s run with the only goal 20 minutes from time.

He rifled home from just inside the box after picking up substitute Jack Sparkes’ pass with his back to goal.

Exeter boss Gary Caldwell said: “We weren’t ourselves in possession tonight. We can play much better but, having said that, in the first half, we were dogged and resilient and defended the box very well.

“We improved in the second half. Most of the chances were from set pieces and I thought those chances were better than our overall performance.

“It’s a newly formed squad, we’re still developing in terms of partnerships, have come to a big stadium for the first time and we have to learn from experience.

“We didn’t make good decisions throughout the game. We kicked long when we could have played out and played out when we should have played long. We’ll analyse it as a group but I want them to be braver, to be a team.

“Their keeper has made some good saves and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. Even when we are not at our best, our set-pieces cause teams problems.”

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho believes there is still room for improvement with his side despite a comprehensive 4-0 away win at League One newcomers Leyton Orient.

The visitors bossed the show with Marlon Pack breaking the deadlock on 23 minutes before Colby Bishop doubled the advantage.

Six minutes after the interval, Orient skipper Omar Beckles turned Gavin Whyte’s teasing cross past his own keeper and then in added time, Kusini Yengi slotted home a penalty to complete the rout.

“I thought the second half was really good and we were excellent in the way we saw the game out and very professional in terms of getting the third and fourth goal to kill the game,” Mousinho said.

“I don’t like to be too critical but the players came in at half-time and it was case that everyone knew it wasn’t good enough. We were two-nil up off the back of being a bit sloppy.

“I thought we looked a bit leggy to be honest and I wondered if it was because we didn’t travel overnight for the first time but I thought we were a bit fortunate with that scoreline at half-time.

“But full credit to the lads for the effort and shift they put in second half they were absolutely excellent.

“There could have been more in the second half but that’s not a disappointing thing because in that part atmosphere the players stuck to their jobs and made it comfortable for us.

“Our job is to make sure we don’t get carried away and have to keep our feet on the ground but I don’t want to dampen anything down because that was a really good four-nil victory.”

Richie Wellens admitted his Orient side, who were experiencing League One football for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, lacked the experience of competing at the higher level.

“I thought first half we were probably the better team,” he said.

“The reason they won the game was because of experienced players who have played at this level who did the basics right. They never wowed us but they defend the box well and they attack balls at the other end.

“We need to be better in the box because we didn’t defend it well.

“First half I thought we should have had more shots. We conceded from set plays and it’s something we need to work on.

“Sol Brynn (goalkeeper) got injured yesterday and potentially it could be a bad one. The squad is now looking threadbare because we have some good players in the treatment room.

“We’ve had little things go against but the positives are Max Sanders came on, we got another 70 minutes out of Joe Piggott but the third goal was the killer.

“It’s been a tough start not necessarily the results but we are lacking.”

John Mousinho says Kusini Yengi is quickly becoming a “fan favourite” as he netted a brace as Portsmouth progressed 3-1 in the Carabao Cup first round.

His double alongside a Zak Swanson strike saw Pompey overcome Sky Bet League Two opponents Forest Green at The Bolt New Lawn.

“He’s quickly becoming a fan favourite and overall I’m really pleased with Kasini, especially his physical presence up front,” said the Pompey boss.

“He probably had four or five good chances, one in the first half which I think he’ll be upset he hasn’t put away, and a brilliant save from his header.

“His work rate, how he held the ball up, and ultimately putting the ball into the back of the net means really good things for him.

Rovers took the lead through Tyrese Omotoye’s first goal for the club but they failed to capitalise on their lead as League One club Pompey replied with three unanswered goals.

Australian forward Yengi bundled home an equaliser following an Anthony Scully corner before the break.

The turnaround was complete as Swanson gave the visitors the lead as he fired past Searle from a tight angle down Pompey’s right side.

Yengi added Pompey’s third from the penalty as Kamara was upended by Rovers full-back Jamie Robson.

Forest Green head coach David Horseman said: “We gave a really strong League One team a good game, we managed to look at some players we haven’t seen in the building yet.

“The goals were really soft, but we’ll pick those up. For 60 minutes, we looked a really good team.

“There’s a lot to work with and hopefully people around the ground notice how much progress we’re making in such a short space of time.

“I’m pleased for Tyrese because he’s put in a lot of work but things aren’t quite going for us at the moment.”