Buoyant John Mousinho delivers upbeat Portsmouth prediction after vital triumph at QPR
John Mousinho spoke of his Pompey relief - and backed a Loftus Road triumph to kick start their season.
The Blues were finally able to savour a precious first win of the campaign in their 11th match in all competitions.
A Callum Lang-inspired 2-1 triumph at relegation rivals QPR represented a first victory since April, while at last providing the Fratton faithful and their 1,744 away followers with something to cheer about this term.
Pompey remain second from bottom of the Championship, leapfrogging QPR, yet a buoyant Mousinho is confident their season can now lift off.
He told The News: ‘I’m feeling a lot of relief, we are obviously delighted with the win. It wasn't in terrific style, but that was deliberate from us, we needed to make it a difficult game and we came away with three points.
‘Considering the opposition in terms of the league position, it felt really big - and the fact that Cardiff won this morning as well.
‘If you look at the back end of the second half when we had gone 2-1 up, the pressure was building because of the fact we hadn’t won a game and we’re away from home - yet I didn't think Nico was really troubled.
‘Hopefully it kick-starts everything. It has been a bit of a strange one because we lost the game to Stoke - and we have to acknowledge that - but, barring that, the performances have been really positive.
‘For Burnley it was how on earth did we concede in the 94th minute to not draw the game. Away at Middlesbrough, away at Leeds, we were scratching our heads, the constant feedback was we can’t keep letting that happen.
‘We managed to get through that against QPR. It was a nervous last 10 minutes, in particular - and that should really spur us on to have the confidence to go into any game this season.’
Freddie Potts’ first Pompey goal and Lang’s fourth of the season secured the victory against a QPR side booed at the final whistle.
And, according to Mousinho, a change in playing style proved pivotal.
He added: ‘It wasn’t pretty at times, which was deliberate. When we’ve gone away, particularly to Stoke, we invited far too much pressure by trying to play and probably being a bit too intricate.
‘One of the things we wanted to avoid against QPR was inviting pressure on our goal, so getting the ball into their half and playing from there.
‘We were much more direct than we have been over the last 18 months during our time here, but were trying to be a bit more effective, getting the ball forward like we did for the first goal and putting QPR under pressure.’