Pompey's miserable run of form continued after yet another gutless display saw the team slip to yet another defeat.
Richie Barker rang the changes with the underperforming Joe Devera and Yassin Moutaouakil dropped and Dan Potts not included in the squad. Johnny Ertl, Marcos Painter and Bondz N'Gala all came in but they were just as poor as the players they had replaced.
The most positive aspect of Pompey's performance came in the first five minutes when they won three early corners but they came to nothing. The visitors kept the ball well but the only real chance they created came when a quality piece of football from Patrick Agyemang and Simon Ferry saw the ball land at Ryan Bird's feet, but the hapless striker could only find goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall with his strike.
That was as good as it got for Pompey for the entire match. Rovers had barely threatened themselves despite hitting the crossbar from distance earlier in the half but took the lead when a cross from the right wasn't dealt with and ended up at the feet of Ollie Clarke whose strike from outside the box flew past Trevor Carson as nobody closed him down.
The second half performance from Portsmouth was, quite frankly, an abomination. The only player to come out of it with any credit was Carson as he produced a wonderful save to stop Dave Clarkson's free kick finding the top corner of the goal.
If there was any moment in this match to sum up how bad it was it would have been when Ertl somehow managed to tackle himself and lose the ball to Eliot Richards whose shot was again saved by Carson.
The Gas made the game safe on 76 minutes with Clarkson not tracked by anyone when he received a through ball which allowed him to curl the ball into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box.
There was to be no response whatsoever from the Pompey players after that and they were booed off by the visiting fans once again who had paid good money to watch such tripe. Some players came to applaud the fans but were soon told where to go by an angry mob who have surely seen enough now. The attendance for the Boxing Day game is going to be much lower than usual, that's for certain.
Usually in these reports of mine there would be players singled out for praise and criticism where applicable but yesterday they were all terrible bar Carson, who may not even be here come January even though he wants to play for the club, which is more than can be said for some of the men who currently represent our football club.
Barker's post-match interview is telling and if you haven't listened to it yet, please do as it will reveal just how many problems the new manager has to sort out as this current crop of crap has no desire or fight to win football matches.
The fact that a poor side like Bristol Rovers cantered to victory without their goalkeeper being tested for the vast majority of the match confirms that relegation to the Conference is now a very real prospect. It's also not improbable that Pompey could be bottom of the entire Football League by the end of the Northampton game next Saturday.
Something needs to change and soon. Those who don't want to play for this famous football club need to leave and Barker needs to bring in players with some guts, leadership and fight to get us out of this mess.
Pompey Player Ratings
Trevor Carson: 7 - A couple of great saves.
Shaun Cooper: 3 - Far too weak.
Bondz N'Gala: 4 - No real effort.
Sonny Bradley: 4 - Lacks confidence.
Marcos Painter: 4 - Likely to be binned in January.
Jed Wallace: 5 - Showed some nice touches but no real commitment.
Simon Ferry: 4 - Doesn't pass the ball forwards.
Johnny Ertl: 4 - Not too bad in first half but atrocious in the second.
Andy Barcham: 3 - Going through the motions and cannot get the basics right.
Patrick Agyemang: 5 - Not very influential.
Ryan Bird: 3 - One tame shot but otherwise offered nothing.
Substitutes
John Sullivan
Yassin Moutaouakil (Cooper 73): N/A - On for injured Cooper but just as poor.
Joe Devera
Therry Racon
Romain Padovani
Ricky Holmes (Barcham 65): 6 - Offered some threat.
David Connolly (Bird 65): 5 - Not really in the game.