John Mousinho applauds performance as Portsmouth win at Lincoln
irishnews.com · Press Association Sport · 2026-08-22T15:52:22+00:00 · nguồn gốc
John Mousinho hailed his party-poopers Portsmouth after they beat Lincoln 3-1 in the Championship at the ProAmpac Stadium as the Imps kicked off their first home game in the second tier for more than 60 years.
Pompey, who had lost their first two matches of the season, took a seventh-minute lead through Chelsea loanee Ryan Kavuma-McQueen before Adrian Segecic doubled the lead nine minutes later.
Reeco Hackett pulled one back from the spot for the Imps just past the half-hour mark but substitute Ebrima Adams made the game safe with a superb strike after 69 minutes.
“I thought it was excellent. If you take everything under consideration and the context of the game, against a side who took 103 points last year, then I think it was a very, very good performance,” said Mousinho.
“There were two aspects I was pleased with – we stood up to Lincoln’s physical threat pretty well for the most part, and then when we settled down and played, we broke through the lines well and had a real attacking threat at the top of the pitch.
“I still think there were a couple of defensive moments where we could have done better – their goal I haven’t got an issue with – but largely against a very different test, I think we handled it well and got the reaction we needed.”
Asked about the turnaround in form after two defeats, Mousinho added: “I think there were a couple of reasons.
“We had players in the side who took it on board themselves to make sure we were solid. And I thought the two centre-backs and the defence dealt with their physical threat very well.”
Portsmouth scored with their very first attack, Kavuma-McQueen arrowing a low effort into the bottom corner.
Segecic then doubled Pompey’s lead after 16 minutes, smacking a bullet of a free-kick past George Wickens from the edge of the box.
Hackett reduced the arrears from the spot in the 32nd minute after Adam Reach’s effort was adjudged to have been handled by Zak Swanson.
However, Adams blasted home a stunning 25-yard strike after 69 minutes to seal the win.
Lincoln head coach Tom Shaw was disappointed his side could not start their home campaign with a morale-boosting victory.
“It was a disappointing result on what was a huge day for the club,” he said.
“I thought we were dominant for the majority of the first half, but we were really disappointed with the goals we conceded.
“After a good start, the first goal knocked the wind out of our sails. I was pleased with how we responded, but the second half just petered out a bit.
“I thought Freddy (Draper) and Ben (House) caused their defence a lot of problems in the first half, which was great to see. We can’t, though, concede as many goals as we have in the past couple of games. We’ve got to go away and think of how we’re going to be more solid.”