SOUTHEND United skipper Sam Mantom felt a poor first half performance was to blame for Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at table-topping Portsmouth.

Portsmouth bagged both of their goals during a one sided first 45 minutes at Fratton Park.

And, despite Blues enjoying more of the ball after the break, Mantom felt a slow start to the game hit Chris Powell’s side hard.

It was a tale of two halves really,” said Mantom.

“Make no bones about it, we were completely second best in the first half and rightly so we got a good seeing to at half-time by the manager.

“To play like we did in the first half meant it was always an uphill battle for us.

“We can’t do what we did in the first half and expect a result.”

However, Mantom was still encouraged by the way he felt Blues responded in the second half.

“You could see in the second half that we were on the front foot more,” said the 26-year-old midfielder.

“We passed the ball nicely and took the game to Portsmouth more.

“Everyone could see we had a good go in the second half but we need to do that for 90 minutes not 45.”

Blues changed things around defensively at half-time with Stephen Hendrie replacing Michael Turner in a change which allowed both Taylor Moore and Elvis Bwomono to line up in their natural positions.

But Mantom did not feel the shape played a part in the outcome of the game.

“I don’t think the shape was wrong,” said Mantom, who was replaced by Dru Yearwood for the final 19 minutes.

“It’s up to us as players in our positions to do our jobs and we work on it in training all week too.

“But the goals came from crosses again.

“They were soft goals and if we stop those crosses then we go in at half-time at 0-0.”

However, Blues were breached twice by their hosts and now sit 15th in the League One standings

And Mantom is keen to help get the Shrimpers back on track with a win against Accrington Stanley at Roots Hall this weekend.

“We’re in a bit of a fight at the moment,” said Mantom.

“We’re around about mid-table but we have to start picking up some results really quickly.

“We’re at home on Saturday which is good and we’ll want the three points.

“Football is a funny game and hopefully we can then win a few on the spin and everyone will be looking up again which is what we want.”