Joey Barton 'won't accept relegation on CV' after leading Bristol Rovers to League Two as Ipswich Town labelled a 'Sunday League' team

The Black Cats drew against Accrington Stanley at the Stadium of Light on Saturday despite scoring three goals.

Lee Johnson’s men have not won since Good Friday when they defeated 10-man Oxford United at the Stadium of Light.

Here, though, we take you through all of the latest news and talk from around the division that you may have missed today:

Joey Barton refuses to accept relegation despite Portsmouth sealing fate

Joey Barton has refused to accept a relegation on his managerial CV after Portsmouth sent Bristol Rovers down to League Two.

The Blues' 1-0 win at Fratton Park confirmed the Gas' relegation.

He told the Bristol Post: “For me as a coach, it’s a strange one because deep down I don’t think I will ever accept this is a relegation on my CV, albeit it will live there forever, but I’m absolutely convinced that had we had our processes and things in place, this should never happen. It should never happen.

“It can happen to you in the top divisions if you don’t have quality in the building, but in the lower leagues you just have to be fit and organised, that’s half the battle.

“We’ve gone down having a scrap today. Portsmouth have had one shot on goal and managed to win the game. We could be out here all day, we ain’t going to score a goal with what we’ve got going on at this moment.

"Looking to the future, and that’s all you can do. The sooner this season’s done and dusted, if I could finish it tomorrow and get rid of them all and a report date for pre-season, I would do, but we’ve got fixtures to fulfil and we’ve got to give our all.

“We’ve been here a long time. It’s tough because there moments where you think if you keep playing like that consistently, but there’s key moments where you can do anything about it, you can’t coach that.

“You can’t coach people to play football if they’re playing at Fratton Park in April with three games to go in the season. You can’t be teaching to play football like that.”

Ipswich Town boss Paul Cook slams team following goalless draw

Ipswich Town manager Paul Cook has slammed his squad following a goalless draw with AFC Wimbledon at Portman Road.

“First half is possibly, and I’ve got to have a good memory, the worst performance of one of my teams that I have ever seen in my whole managerial career,” Cook said.

“I’ve never seen a team play like that, I’ve never seen a team lack every quality on a football pitch, including the biggest one – honesty – including winning contact, winning second ball, doing basic stuff well.

“It’s so disappointing, but nothing will sort of sway me now. I’ve been of a mindset for a period of time now, probably before Marcus (Evans) left the club and the new ownership came in, with what needed to happen. The plans behind the scenes haven’t changed.

“I just feel like we’re not far off a Sunday League team that has won a cup to come and play at Portman Road.”

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