Wayne Rooney believes Pompey ran out of steam as they fell to a gut-wrenching Plymouth defeat.

But the Pilgrims boss acknowledged the intensity of the Blues’ performance, as they pushed back his side for long periods at Home Park last night.

Rooney’s side ended a run of four games without a win with Michael Obafemi’s goal giving them a 1-0 success, as they improved their strong home form.

The former Manchester United striker acknowledged the faults in Plymouth’s play, but felt the result trumped the performance on this occasion.

Rooney told Plymouth Live: ‘I'm delighted firstly with the three points. After the recent run of results the most important thing was we win the game, so I wasn't really looking for a performance.

‘We have seen some very good performances this season with the ball but tonight was more about getting the basics right. I thought first half we were overplaying at times and getting caught.

‘I was trying to get messages on for us to be more direct and land on second balls, and I thought we did that better second half. Then we get the goal through Michael towards the end. It wasn't the prettiest of games by any means but the result was the most important thing.

‘Portsmouth are an aggressive team. They go man for man and try to make it difficult for you. There was little things throughout the game which make a big difference.

‘It was a very difficult task for Andre. He's battling with the centre-backs but I think Portsmouth fatigued towards the end. They only made the one change (from the 1-1 draw away to Hull City on Saturday). The decision on my starting line-up against Leeds only pays off if you win the next game, so I think it was the right decision I made.

‘We know we have got a really good goalkeeper. I have felt for him because he has had some really good performances and the goals we have conceded there has been nothing much he could do on a lot of them.

‘If we can fix our away form then we put ourselves in a really good place. At this point of the season we have been relying on our home form but we need to change that, and quickly.’

Pompey boss John Mousinho disputed Plymouth’s decisive goal, as Obafemi dismissed Regan Poole’s attentions and fired past Nicolas Schmid with eight minutes remaining.

Rooney saw no issue with the finish, however, and felt the former Southampton man used his body to good effect.

He added: ‘I thought it was a really good goal. He has used his body well to ease the centre-back out and then it's a great finish. We didn't create that many chances tonight but I thought the subs did really well - all of them - when they came on.

‘Moose (Bundu) did well, Callum (Wright) calmed it down a little bit for us in getting hold of the ball and getting in some good positions, and then obviously Michael got the goal. I was really pleased for the lads who came on, and especially Michael.’