He’s trying to injure our players – Portsmouth boss John Mousinho hits out at Tom Fellows

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho accused Southampton winger Tom Fellows of deliberately injuring two of his players during the first half of Sunday’s goalless derby at St Mary’s.

Fellows, who was making his Saints debut, nudged Pompey defender Connor Ogilvie in the back as they chased a long ball, causing him to collide with visiting goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.

Schmid was substituted shortly afterwards before being taken to hospital with a wrist injury, while Ogilvie was replaced ahead of the second half of the Sky Bet Championship stalemate due to a neck issue.

Mousinho, who upset Southampton manager Will Still with a firm post-match handshake, said: “I thought it was really poor, you’ve got two Portsmouth players travelling at pace towards each other and it’s a small push, but it’s a small push with massive consequences.

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Poor challenge

“There’s no other explanation for that other than he’s trying to injure our players and he did so successfully, so well done on that.

“We’ve ended up with one player in hospital and the other really struggling. I knew at the time it was a really poor challenge, there was no need for it.”

Austrian Schmid, who was replaced by Ben Killip in the 26th minute, is expected to have a scan on Monday.

“He’s not good, he’s not good at all – he’s in a spot of bother,” Mousinho said.

The first league meeting between the bitter rivals in more than 13 years failed to live up to the pre-match hype.

Pompey midfielder Andre Dozzell went closest to a winner, striking Saints’ crossbar in the ninth minute.

Bemused

Southampton boss Still was bemused by Mousinho’s behaviour at the final whistle, which had hallmarks of the clash between Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte following a match between Chelsea and Tottenham in 2022.

“Yeah, I didn’t quite get that,” said Still. “It’s just a derby, it’s football, I don’t mind it, but I don’t understand why he grabbed hold of my hand.”

Portsmouth sit ninth in the table with eight points from five matches, with Southampton two points behind in 15th position.

Asked about the handshake, Mousinho said: “I just kept getting peppered in my left ear all game.

“I try and concentrate on my own side and I clearly badger the fourth official a lot and sometimes the referees, but I don’t do it to the opposition bench.

“I certainly don’t think the two managers of these football clubs should be mates. There should be a bit of feisty competition.”

Flat balloon

Southampton had the better of the second period but offered little going forward.

Still described the occasion as a “flat balloon” and felt his side wasted 45 minutes due to an insipid first-half performance.

A smattering of boos greeted full-time as the majority of a crowd of 30,889 went home frustrated.

“I’m just disappointed we couldn’t give them anything back or anything to cheer about,” Still said of the home fans.

“It’s a bit of a flat balloon in the end and they deserved more. We wasted everyone’s time in the first half.

“It was just a bit of a dull derby that didn’t reflect who we want to be.”

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