'Brilliant' - Portsmouth manager reacts as Sunderland loanee scores first goal for new club

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho has praised Sunderland loanee Adil Aouchiche for his “brilliant” first goal for the club.

The Frenchman found the back of the net with a stunning long-range effort in the latter stages of Wednesday evening’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of relegation-threatened Plymouth Argyle, but his eye-catching strike wasn’t enough to inspire Pompey to a positive result after Miron Muslic’s men had opened up a two-goal lead at Fratton Park.

Nevertheless, despite the disappointment of his team dropping points against the Championship’s bottom side, Mousinho took a moment in his post-match press conference to hail Aouchiche for his sublime consolation.

He said: “Brilliant goal. Again, it probably summed the night up - poor delivery from a set-piece, we get the ball back out to the edge of the box and we score. But yeah, just not enough in the last eleven minutes [of stoppage time].”

Mousinho’s comments - and Aouchiche’s goal - come off the back of recent claims from the Portsmouth boss that the Sunderland loanee still had plenty to offer his side after a relatively slow start to life on the south coach. He said: “Adil had a real impact in the first couple of substitute appearances when he came on, and I thought he was very good against QPR in the second half when he got into the game.

“I think last week at Luton everyone struggled and Adil was no exception, while I think he showed glimpses against Leeds and probably tired as well. I think Adil will grow into it. His numbers are outstanding and through the roof with the amount of running he does - he’s probably about 15 per cent higher than everyone else with distances covered, so he does a huge job in terms of that press.

“I think he has loads more quality than he showed against Leeds, I wouldn’t hide from that. He has more quality than that. But it’s a big positive that while we think there’s still more to come, we’re still winning games with Adil in the side.”

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He added: “Sometimes it’s the nature of those players, they pick up pockets trying to make things happen. When it comes off it’s brilliant, like the break down the left against QPR when he flicks it to Josh Murphy and we have a disallowed goal. When it comes off it’s brilliant and when it gets intercepted there’s frustration.

“But with Adil being a bit of a maverick we want that from him and give him a licence to do that, take people on and make things happen. There’s definitely more to come from Adil, I’m sure we’re going to see more.”

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