Manager Narcis Pelach revealed a chat with four-goal hero Tom Cannon was key to his striker’s stunning display in Stoke’s 6-1 Championship win over Portsmouth.

Cannon was substituted at half-time in City’s 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Saturday but the Leicester loanee justified his starting role with two goals in each half as he became the first Stoke player to score four times in a game since Peter Thorne 24 years ago.

Sam Gallagher and Andrew Moran also opened their Stoke accounts as Pelach gained his first win as City boss. Mark O’Mahoney had equalised before winless Pompey’s wheels fell off.

Pelach said: “I replaced him (Cannon) and said, ‘I cannot be waiting for performances in the middle of a game. I needed to do what was right for the team. But I want to let you know I am going to back you. Three, four, five bad performances will not change my opinion about you’.

“I know he is a good player but he needs game time.

“Life is about confidence and I have confidence in him. I told him, ‘you need to feel free and you will start again’.

“I want to base something that is based on trust. He is a young player so we need to be supportive and tonight he got his reward.”

On his team’s first victory at the third attempt since taking charge, Pelach added: “The game plan worked very well and the players were spot on. The intensity we had defensively was very good.”

Pompey boss John Mousinho described his team’s capitulation as the worst performance of his 20 months in charge “by a long way”.

And he apologised to Pompey’s 1,721 travelling fans for their side’s horror show.

“I haven’t seen that level of performance or the boys go under like they did for that 10-minute spell either side of half-time,” he said.

“We got exactly what we deserved. We didn’t run, we didn’t compete, we lost headers, we lost tackles, we lost second balls.

“It was a big surprise because we have been so good in the last three games.

“We started abysmally as though it was going to be this easy game.

“I am not sure what the mentality of the players was going into it. But that’s my problem and I have to address it.

“Myself and the coaching staff will take full responsibility for anything we need to do. But the players need to look at themselves tomorrow when we assess the game and take a long hard look at themselves.

“The fans were amazing and didn’t deserve that. We didn’t deserve what they gave us.

“So, massive apologies to everyone who spent their money to come up to Stoke. It is unacceptable, we all know that and we are very lucky to have that backing.”