From the Snooze (Monday)

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Pompey have re-signed Portuguese defender Ricardo Rocha.As first revealed by The News, the 34-year-old has joined on a one-month deal, subject to FA clearance.

Rocha returns to the club despite failing to have his Fratton Park contract renewed at the end of last season.

He made 76 appearances for the Blues after being signed by Avram Grant 2010.

He will wear the number 33 shirt and has signed in time to feature against Leyton Orient tomorrow night.

His place in Pompey’s 20-man squad was made available after Carl Dickinson returned to parent club Watford.

Guy Whittingham remains upbeat Pompey will end their scoring drought as he insisted: The goals will come.The caretaker Blues boss saw his side fire blanks once again as they crashed to a sixth straight loss against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday and stretched their time without a goal to a staggering 489 minutes.

But while it was another day that ultimately ended in disappointment, there were at least some positive signs that the Blues are starting to rediscover their attacking verve.

And Whittingham – who will remain in charge of Pompey while the club is still in administration, despite reports linking Paul Ince with the managerial hot seat – believes they will end a run of more than eight hours without a goal tomorrow night at home to Leyton Orient.

‘It just wasn’t our day in front of goal (on Saturday),’ he said.

‘I don’t think it looked like we’d had five defeats in a row.

‘It wasn’t a team playing without any confidence.

‘One of the frustrating things was that from a couple of corners, the ball was hanging around in the penalty area and there was nobody there to smash it in.

‘You are thinking “where is someone?”

‘I found that frustrating more than anything else.

‘But we did a lot of the right things and we’ve got to do that again tomorrow night.

‘Sometimes it just needs that one moment for everything to click, but you make your own luck.

‘In previous games, we haven’t really deserved the luck.

‘But this time, I thought they (the players) did what I asked them to do.

‘When it doesn’t come off, you’ve just got to work hard and keep feeling positive about it. It will come.’

After conceding another sloppy defensive goal midway through the first half, Pompey improved after the break.

They came close to finding an equaliser when Lubomir Michalik’s header rattled back off the woodwork.

Izale McLeod then wasted a gilt-edged opportunity when he was put clean through on goal, only to balloon his effort over the crossbar.

Whittingham said: ‘Lubo was unlucky with his header and Izale knows he should have scored.

‘We almost delivered but almost isn’t close enough.

‘We’ve got to make sure we get the ball in the back of the net because that’s what counts – I know it’s an obvious statement.

‘And when you aren’t scoring goals, you need to keep clean sheets.

‘We should have defended their goal a lot better than we did.’

The caretaker boss took heart from the home fans’ reaction inside Fratton Park, though, as they stayed with the team and applauded their efforts at the final whistle.

Whittingham added: ‘I’m sure the fans noticed the improvement. They wouldn’t have applauded the players off if they didn’t think they had put the effort in, despite the result.

‘We’re passionate people, we know the fans here are passionate and we know what they want.’


Paul Benson is convinced Pompey’s work-rate deserved better than the weekend Doncaster defeat.The on-loan striker was given a starting role alongside Izale McLeod following his arrival Fratton Park on Thursday.

He couldn’t help prevent a 1-0 loss to Rovers, with Iain Hume’s first-half goal sending the Blues to their sixth successive defeat.

But the Swindon man remained encouraged by the display – and, in particular, with the effort he believes caretaker boss Guy Whittingham’s men put in.

He said: ‘There’s that whole argument if you don’t put the ball into the back of the net you don’t deserve anything, and we had enough good opportunities and good moments in the final third to possibly get a couple of goals.

‘But I think we put enough effort in to win a game.

‘I was encouraged by our work-rate. There is nothing worse than losing a game of football and the boys haven’t put in 100 per cent.

‘I thought Doncaster came off the pitch knowing they had been in a game and if 100-per-cent effort is a minimal requirement – we put that in.

‘Now if we can add a bit of quality to the game as well, hopefully, we can start seeing a change of fortune.

‘I thought the first half we played well and the goal was against the run of play.

‘Considering the run the boys have been on, they did well to get their heads back up and keep playing and then come out again second half and put the pressure on.’


Nathaniel Mendez-Laing believes Pompey can reap the benefits as he seeks to resurrect his career.The 20-year-old was transfer listed by Championship side Peterborough last week and told he didn’t have a future at the club.

That came after Mendez-Laing, Gaby Zakuani, Tyrone Barnett and Emile Sinclair spent a night out in Peterborough following a home defeat to Crystal Palace.

A subsequent internal investigation saw them punished by boss Darren Ferguson for a ‘breach of club discipline’.

Mendez-Laing, who only arrived at London Road in the summer from Wolves, in turn joined Pompey on a month’s loan on Thursday.

And his impact was immediate after being handed a debut for the visit of Doncaster Rovers, producing a stunning man-of-the-match performance.

The youngster caught the eye with a powerful and pacy display, mainly down the left flank.

He couldn’t help prevent Pompey slumping to a sixth successive defeat after Iain Hume’s first-half goal decided a 1-0 scoreline.

Nonetheless, it was a highly-encouraging debut from Mendez-Laing as he seeks to put himself in the shop window.

He said: ‘It was just a bit of madness around the club (Peterborough), but I would rather not speak about that.

‘I’ve come here to play football and hopefully I can do that.

‘That’s how football goes sometimes. Obviously, they (Peterborough) are not happy with whatever has gone on so we’ll see what happens in January.

‘It is always an option that if I came here, do well and they like me then I could stay even longer. But you have to see what’s on the table and what is best for me.

‘I did ask the gaffer (Ferguson) to get out a few weeks ago and he said “no”.

‘Then, whatever has happened in the past week has happened and they have let me go out now and said I have no future there.

‘There were a few other clubs who wanted me on loan as well, but this is the one that stood out to me the most.

‘It’s still a big club and I wanted to get away from being so close to home in Birmingham. I wanted to come here, enjoy myself, play my football and focus particularly on football – no distractions.

‘A few other clubs didn’t really appeal to me. I know this club likes to play football as well, which is one of the main things which attracted me.

‘Now I just want to play and hopefully take Saturday’s performance into tomorrow.’

It was another low-key display for the Blues on Saturday as they slide towards the League One relegation zone.

Yet Mendez-Laing believes they deserved better against Rovers.

He added: ‘We deserved to win that game.

‘They only caused us that one problem in the first half which obviously resulted in a goal, but other than that I couldn’t see a threat from them.

‘They had a little spell towards the end but overall I thought we were in control of the game.

‘They were always on their back foot and have defended well. We were unfortunate not to win that game.’