Portsmouth 0 MK Dons 2: Jordan Cross’ verdict as Danny Cowley’s Nightmare Before Christmas leaves Fratton tenure at crossroads

Beneath him the club he so memorably guided to the Premier League in a never-to-be-forgotten eight-year stewardship were combusting, as their season hit a new low before the man still revered for his achievements as Pompey owner.

Of course, Mandaric has known similar dark days. And things usually ended one way for the famed hire-and-fire merchant when they arrived.

Such a scenario was referenced amid a grim playlist which provided the backdrop to the final 26 minutes of one of the most ugly and demoralising Fratton afternoons in recent memory.

Not that any blame was being aired for the noxious array of chants which veered from gallows humour into increasingly toxic territory.

‘This is embarrassing’, ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ and ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ were some of the publishable examples at a bleak landmark for Danny Cowley’s time at Pompey.

Inevitably, the validity of his stewardship came in for attention as tempers boiled over and the boos rained down from those of the 17,426 who bothered remaining for the final whistle.

An apathy has seeped into the Fratton faithful’s psyche amid a gradual chipping away of conviction at where this season’s headed.

Usually a generous amount of stoppage time rouses hope of some kind of late fightback for sides chasing the game. Instead it was jeers of contempt which greeted the fourth official’s board indicating seven minutes of stoppage time, as the gloom descended.

It was the clearest example belief is evaporating among the Fratton faithful, on an afternoon comparable to all those seminal low ebbs at PO4 over the past 20 years.

So how as it arrived at this point?

It was just 12 weeks ago, goal difference separated Pompey from the League One summit with a trip to leaders Ipswich Town on the horizon.

Cowley has been naturally keen to reference the 23-game unbeaten run stretching back to January 31 and Pompey’s fire power this calendar year, which is comparable to the English game’s biggest hitters.

But mention of the home streak in the aftermath of what unfolded on Saturday grated, and was an anachronistic imposter amid what’s unfolded over the past few months.

Because the reality is it’s now more than eight weeks since the Blues enjoyed League One success, and the run stretches 15 weeks back to the start of September for the last third tier maximum on home soil.

Yes, it was one loss in 11 in all competitions heading into Saturday, but it’s now also a single success in the league over the same period - the same run the managerless visitors were on before the weekend. And they were being kept off the bottom on goal difference.

Pompey may be enjoying cup success this term, but after six increasingly painful seasons at this level League One is where Cowley’s bread will be buttered. End of story.

A clearly desolate Pompey manager recognised as much, with any efforts at airing the more positive stats at his disposal kept to a minimum in his post-match post-mortem.

His team had actually started the afternoon in positive fashion, which made the manner in which they were to shoot themselves in the foot all the more galling.

Josh Koroma, whose form has tailed off dramatically over much of the past couple of months, started on the front foot alongside Colby Bishop in a 3-4-1-2 formation.

The Huddersfield loanee, whose future will be up for debate next month, saw two 20-yard efforts pushed away by Jamie Cumming in the first 30 minutes.

Denver Hume, on his first league start of the season, opened his supply line from the left which had reached seven crosses by the interval and saw a fourth-minute effort on goal create panic amid a scramble in the MK Dons box.

Then Clark Robertson’s 29th-minute free-kick had ricocheted back off the crossbar, before the narrative of Fratton Park’s very own The Nightmare Before Christmas began to unfold.

Once again it was the first effort on goal Pompey had to deal with, which was the catalyst for the horror story.

It was Marlon Pack, whose majestic early-season is starting to become a memory, who lost the run of Bradley Johnson to allow the disturbing penchant for conceding from the first chance the opponent are afforded to strike again.

Pompey and Cowley will look to what unfolded 10 minutes after the restart, as they were robbed of a perfectly legitimate goal, as evidence the League One gods aren’t looking upon them favourably right now.

There was debate about whether Koroma was offside from Jay Mingi’s incisive pass. What wasn’t up for discussion, was the Huddersfield man’s run being rendered legitimate under how football’s Law 11 offside rule now reads - thanks to Warren O’Hora deliberately playing the ball.

Referee Samuel Barrott recognised as much, when he apologised to Cowley for blowing his whistle too early after the game.

Pompey fans, however, will agree Barrott took far too long to call time on what unfolded next, as calamitous defending gifted interim boss Dean Lewington’s side a second on an afternoon he ranked as one of his finest in football.

Robertson was twice culpable as his terrible header gifted MK Dons a corner, after Josh Griffiths had superbly denied Conor Grant.

It proved a pre-cursor to the kind of play you’d laugh at if you’d witnessed it at Farlington Marshes, as Grant’s scuffed effort was forced home by Jack Tucker with Robertson flailing.

That was the cue for the bile to begin rolling down from three sides of Fratton Park, as Pompey’s players disappeared into their own insecurities and the home crowd’s patience finally snapped.

Whatever your view on airing your ire in such furious and visceral fashion and the consequences on the players of operating in such an environment, no one can argue it wasn’t justified.

Cowley's decision to end Sean Raggett's 44-game unbroken run of league starts in search for more quality on the ball will be under the microscope. And quite right, too.

More concerning is form which places Pompey 23rd of 24 over the past six league games, and 22nd over the past 10. These are the figures which shine the clearest light on the reaction to the weekend's dismal events.

Some fundamental differences of opinion remain over where ambitions should lie, but whatever your take, scenes like those witnessed on Saturday are inevitable when framed by the league form over the past three months and a fortitude-sapping sixth season at this level.

So for Graham Rix and Leyton Orient, Paul Cook and Crewe and Kenny Jackett Coventry, you can now read Cowley and MK Dons.

Some of those dark Fratton chapters in Pompey’s recent history arrived before brighter dawns, while for others they proved irreversible turning points.

After 21 months at the helm, the man charged with taking this club forward has now arrived at that same juncture.