'I absolutely love him': Portsmouth boss on his plan to bring the best out of enigmatic Blackpool winger

The Blackpool loanee’s admirable work-rate, positive attitude and natural flair have made him popular with the Fratton faithful.

Yet a return of three assists and one goal in 28 League One appearances has disappointed, especially within a side which struggles for creative inspiration.

Mousinho has revealed he and coaching staff have been working with Dale on the training pitch in a bid to unlock his end product.

And he has already noticed an improvement in the 24-year-old’s output since the late victory over Burton.

The Blues head coach told The News: ‘Owen doesn't need to worry too much about goals and assists.

‘He needs to worry about the quality of crosses and the quality of balls he’s putting in – then the goals and assists will come.

‘With assists you are relying on someone putting the ball into the back of the net, that's not his fault.

‘He was frustrated coming off the pitch against Burton, but I asked him to watch the game back and he did, then was much more positive the following morning.

‘I actually thought it was one of his more productive games because of the amount of crosses he got in – and they were good quality crosses.

‘I told him unless you’re watching a different game, you put some really good crosses in. And, when there wasn’t one, you came back out to Joe (Rafferty) and Joe delivered a cross.

‘We did a lot of work with Owen after the Plymouth game about crosses and crossing opportunities, and how dangerous he is when faced up with the full-back and you could tell that against Burton, he crossed the ball brilliantly well.

‘I absolutely love him, his work-rate is terrific, that’s what we base it off, you will never find him short in the work-rate department, he has a great engine and he has good quality.

‘We’ve just got to make sure he uses it and make sure he gets at full-backs and centre-halves at the right times. If he can’t get at them, come back out and we can switch the play.

‘He can definitely do it, he will get there, it’s just one of those things. It’s confidence. Sometimes with goals you get one and then they roll on and on and on.’

Dale has 21 career goals – yet his only Pompey goal arrived on August 20 against Bristol Rovers in a 3-1 triumph.

And Mousinho has pinpointed a lack of composure in promising goal-scoring positions as the reason.

He added: ‘Against Burton he lashed one into the Fratton End in the second half. He knows he could have done better if he goes low and hard across the goal.

‘At the moment he gets into those situations and just needs slightly more composure.

‘He’s a very good player who is going to get a lot of those opportunities, it’s not exactly you are going to get one in 100 games, so take your time.’