Portsmouth interim head coach’s emphatic response to impact of boss hunt on dressing room after terrible Bolton Wanderers showing

And the Blues’ interim head coach demanded the players step up and take responsibility for the weak performance in the 3-0 loss, and their ongoing League One struggles.

Bassey himself accepted culpability for what unfolded at the University of Bolton Stadium as the season hit another low.

Pompey are now winless in 10 League One games, and have just a single third-tier win to their name over the past 15 fixtures.

That has seen them tumble down the table, with the gap to the relegation places seven points and nine points separating them from the top six.

Supporters are calling for urgency over bringing in Danny Cowley’s successor with the season at crisis point.

Bassey is adamant that is down to himself and the underperforming players to step up, however, and shoulder the blame for the current issues - and put them right.

When asked if the search for a new boss was behind the performance, he said: ‘Absolutely not, absolutely not.

‘I’ve been doing this for 20 years, we all have to take responsibility.

‘I’ve changed the shape and picked the tactics and it never worked from an attacking point of view.

‘But defensively we have to do better than that.

‘We’ve given away poor goals and we’re not scoring. It’s not a good combination.

‘So we have to take individual responsibility for that, football is a two-way street.’

Sloppy goals were the critical factor in Pompey not collecting a return against Bolton, with the opener a comedy of defensive errors.

Josh Oluwayemi, on his league bow, spilled the ball for the second to blot an otherwise decent showing, before Eoin Toal rounded off the win.

Bassey put his hand up to his team selection not returning enough attacking threat, but knows that had little to do with the defensive mistakes which underpinned the loss.

He added: ‘I pick the team and set the tactics. It didn’t work how I wanted it to, especially first half.

‘I picked two 10s to get between the lines and overload the middle of the pitch. We didn’t really get the most out of it as we’d hoped.

‘But we did it because we thought we could find that bit of quality, penetration with Owen (Dale) and guile with Michael (Jacobs).

‘But the tactics have got little to do with the goals we conceded.’