Defence was at fault - Ince

1st December 2008

Manager Paul Ince did not enjoy Blackburn's surrender in defence as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat having pegged Portsmouth back to 2-2.

Papa Bouba Diop glided past three static defenders to hit a powerful shot which goalkeeper Paul Robinson could only push out for sub Sean Davis to coolly grab the winner 11 minutes from time.

Ince, whose side are one from bottom in the table, said: "We were by far the better side in the first half but we missed three good chances. Peter Crouch missed one for them with a header just before half-time but we didn't learn from that and let him have the same space to score their first goal.

"If you are asking about spirit I think we showed plenty of that coming back from 2-0 down. Matt Derbyshire got a brave header when he came on and after Tugay got the equaliser it looked like only one team was going to win it. We are playing well but not getting results and I'm tired of saying that week after week.

"Again we forgot you have to keep the door shut at the back - and not only at the back but the whole team defensively. To see Diop ghosting past three of my players like that (to set up the winner) was, well, ridiculous."