McLoughlin wants consistency

Portsmouth first-team coach Alan McLoughlin called on his side to find the consistency after an emphatic 3-0 win over Morecambe.

The Blues bounced back from their humiliating FA Cup exit at Aldershot on Wednesday, courtesy of Craig Westcarr's opener after 11 minutes and a Jed Wallace brace, which saw him find the net after 54 and 88 minutes. Pompey's first FA Cup defeat to non-league opposition in midweek turned up the pressure on manager Andy Awford, but McLoughlin was pleased with his side's response. Now he is calling for the Blues to maintain that form on the road. He said: "We're delighted with what we've done in terms of freshening up and players taking stock of how we want things to go. "There were some stern words, shall we say, on Wednesday. The upshot is we know we can perform, but what we're looking for is doing it on a consistent basis. "Sometimes it won't be pretty, but what we need is a togetherness and we saw that against Morecambe. We could have been out of sight. "They had a 10-minute spell where they had some opportunities, but we scored three. The three points is a massive incentive to plan ahead for the Tranmere game on Saturday and a more professional performance away from home. "You can forgive the odd defeat here and there, but if players are working for the team, you can't ask any more." McLoughlin was pleased to see Wallace notch his 10th goal of the season. He said. "He's great doing things with the ball. "But we also want all the players, and I mean all the players, to work equally as hard without the ball. If we do that, we'll have a collective spirit and work ethic that will take us forward." Morecambe manager Jim Bentley admits his side lost their concentration as they took umbrage with a number of refereeing decisions that went against them. He said: "We got involved with the referee and picked up one or two silly bookings. The lads lacked a bit of discipline. "I don't want to go too much into depth with the things that went against us. It was hard. We had lads getting elbowed. "I've got to be honest; I'm as frustrated as them in the respect that if you see things happening, what are you going to do? Stand still and accept it? "I'm not going to go too far into that. I was disappointed to lose the game. I knew they would come out fighting and we knew that after getting beaten in the FA Cup in midweek, they had a point to prove in front of their own fans." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts