'No-one cares': Portsmouth boss' defiant message after latest blow for luckless Blues

John Mousinho peered through deepening Pompey gloom and insisted: Get on with it.

Firstly Regan Poole, now the Blues have been deprived of another star performer for the season in the talented Alex Robertson.

The latest body blow has been delivered amid a backdrop of five points from five matches as the long-time League One leaders worryingly stumble while others rapidly catch up.

With a January transfer window pivotal to the Blues’ promotion ambition and Leyton Orient's Saturday visit marking the start of the final 20 matches, the pressure is slowly cranking up.

Mousinho could be forgiven for cursing the latest wretched injury luck to befall the Blues - and the huge gap created in his team.

But he has already moved on.

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘When we got Alex’s news, we had a moan about it and you might feel sorry for yourselves for about 30 seconds, but that’s about it.

‘We can bemoan that loss all we want, no other side in the league cares, so just get on with it.

‘You can’t get down about any of these things in football. You receive so many hammer blows all the way through the season, even though we are top of the league.

‘At the moment you can probably feel a bit of disappointment around the place considering our recent form, but you must make sure you stay positive and stay on top of yourself.

‘There are two ways you can react, you can either let it get on top of you too much or just move on and make the best out of the situation, trying to win games without players that are injured.

‘When I was a player, you could dwell on losses and be punished for it next week if you thought about it too much. On the other side of the coin, you can win a game and get too carried away, being punished as well.

‘Within a game, there are 100 things which go right and 100 things which go wrong. You can get hung up on refereeing decisions, unfortunately these things happen, nothing ever goes particularly smoothly.

‘Even in the best seasons there are always going to be some bumps and bruises along the way - and we are no exception to that.

‘The players are professional. We can feel sorry for ourselves or we can dust ourselves off and realise everybody up and down the leagues are impacted by injuries.’

Pompey remain two points clear at the League One summit, although have played two matches more than second-placed Bolton - and one more than the other top-seven clubs.

Next at Fratton Park are 12th-placed Leyton Orient, a side they defeat 4-0 in August.

Mousinho added: ‘We need to react well, staying calm, staying solid, and remaining focused in terms of what we want to achieve.

‘Any time I have been part of a side which have been successful, that has been the key ingredient. You can’t get too high or too low at any point, just crack on with things and do your best to get results.’