John Mousinho described the way Coventry City took his Portsmouth team apart as “brutal,” admitting that he’d been nervous before the game knowing that the Sky Blues were pushing for the Championship title. And he was right to be concerned as Frank Lampard’s men tore into the visitors, whom he admitted were “dreadful” at times, but refused to criticise his Pompey players after they retained their second tier status by virtue of results elsewhere on the night. Reflecting on the 5-1 thrashing at the CBS Arena, Mousinho said: “You can’t sum up everything because it’s such a strange night. If I start with the game, for 45 minutes I thought we were fine, we conceded from a set-piece which was really poor but it was very tight. FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK! Get more Coventry City news and analysis via our FB page “We didn’t have a huge amount going forward but the only other time we felt threatened was when Esse chopped in on his left foot and he had the shot, apart from that Coventry dominated possession without creating a huge amount.” Haji Wright scored early in the first half but Ephron Mason-Clark punished a mistake by the keeper to make it 2-0 at the start of the second half before a Regan Poole own goal added a third. And although Adrian Segecic snatched a consolation midway through the second period, the Sky Blues put Pompey to the sword with another from Mason-Clark before substitute Kaine Kesler-Hayden made it 5-1 in added time. “As soon as we gave them that leg up in the second half it was total domination,” he said. “We couldn’t get near Coventry. They’re a good side at the best of times but when you give them a leg up on a night they’ve already been promoted and they can become champions, they are outstanding. “I thought athletically, they completed dominated us all over the pitch. Technically, they’re brilliant if you look at Grimes dropping in and causing the problems he did. “For anybody who looks at Championship football, they’re an extremely good side, the best side we’ve played against this season by a long way and they fully deserve to be champions. “It was a brutal last 20 minutes to be honest against the best side in the league by a country mile. We were dreadful at times and couldn’t get anywhere near Coventry.” He added: “The second part of it is a huge amount of relief and to be honest, in a strange way I’m delighted that we’ve stayed in the league. If you’d have offered me this at any point of the season, say October onwards, I’d have snapped your hand off. To do what we’ve done over the past six games has been remarkable.” Every day, the CoventryLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Coventry City content. Our dedicated reporter Andy Turner – who you can follow on X – follows the Sky Blues home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. You can also get all your favourite content from CoventryLive’s Sky Blues team on WhatsApp. Sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club.