Some Cardiff players ‘froze in the moment’ in Portsmouth defeat – Omer Riza

Cardiff boss Omer Riza felt some of his players “froze in the moment” during a damaging 2-1 defeat to fellow Sky Bet Championship strugglers Portsmouth.

The relegation-threatened Bluebirds were left facing an uphill task at Fratton Park after conceding goals to Pompey pair Colby Bishop and Conor Shaughnessy inside the opening 17 minutes.

Callum O’Dowda quickly halved the deficit but City were unable to salvage a point as they slipped to consecutive league defeats on the back of a 7-0 thrashing at leaders Leeds.

Riza, who watched from the stands as he completed a three-match touchline ban, accused his team of lacking “execution” and “bravery”.

“We made it hard for ourselves early on; to go two down again is hard work,” he said.

“I thought after 20, 25 minutes we were better, created opportunities, got a goal, so we stayed in the game.

“But in general we weren’t good enough. We lacked execution, we lacked bravery. We were second to a lot of stuff tonight.

“It was like a rugby match and we didn’t stand up to the challenge. I thought a few players froze in the moment again.

“We didn’t start well enough, we didn’t start aggressive enough. We weren’t doing the basics really well.

“I’ve told my players that we can play better than that.”

Cardiff’s recent seven-match unbeaten streak was emphatically ended at Elland Road in their last league outing.

Derby

They now sit just two points above the drop zone, while Portsmouth are two places and two points better off after deservedly ending their four-match winless run.

Riza, whose side progressed to an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Premier League club Aston Villa by edging past Stoke on penalties on Saturday, will be back in the dugout for this weekend’s Severnside derby at home to Bristol City.

“Now we’ve made it hard work for ourselves again and we have to go back, tail between our legs and get ready for the game on Saturday,” he said.

“It’s been hard up there (in the stands) for three games but the boys and the coaches have done brilliant while I’ve been away.

“It’s my fault and I acknowledge that. We’ve got Bristol at home on Saturday and we need to be ready for it, we need to pick up points, that’s what our focus is now.”

Portsmouth looked set to breeze to victory following a blistering start in which striker Bishop poked home his 50th goal for the club and defender Shaughnessy – who later left the field with a hamstring issue – headed in his first of the campaign.

Yet home supporters endured a nervy finale, albeit Cardiff rarely threatened to snatch a point, aside from a late volley from Callum Robinson.

Pompey boss John Mousinho said: “My nerves are all right; just my brain is a bit frazzled by some of the things we did.

“But we’ve come away with three points, so that’s the most important thing.

“I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve taken the three points. There’s some frustration in parts of the performance.

“I didn’t think Cardiff did more than us and I thought we created by far the better chances. We deserved to score more than them.”