'Picked ourselves up off the canvas': Jubilant Portsmouth boss hails gutsy display to shock Charlton
The Blues have climbed to 19th in the Championship after only a third away win of the season
A delighted John Mousinho saluted his gutsy Pompey players and admitted: We picked ourselves back off the canvas.
The Blues registered only their third away win of the season following a 3-1 triumph at Charlton which put them four points clear of the Championship relegation zone.
It was an impressive result achieved amid a backdrop of 13 players ruled out through injury and the agony of Saturday’s heart-breaking last-gasp defeat to Sheffield United.
A stunning double from Terry Devlin and Colby Bishop’s first league goal since August inspired the much-needed victory.
And afterwards Pompey’s head coach paid tribute to the response of his patched-up and injury-hit squad.
Mousinho told The News: ‘We are obviously delighted with the result and the performance matched the result as well.
‘It was remarkable off the back of everything we have done over the past few weeks. Charlton obviously had a few days extra rest and we had a heavy game at Preston.
‘Then it was a really tough game on Saturday against Sheffield United, when it was disappointing to concede the goal in the way we did and, having played really well, so it was a double hammer blow.
‘So to pick ourselves back off the canvas and come here with that growing injury list and put in that performance was really pleasing.
‘Regardless of the result, the lads put a shift in, they were really aggressive in the way that we pressed, aggressive in the way we attacked the ball.
‘Sometimes a bit too much when we gave away a couple of silly free-kicks, but I’m asking the boys to go and leave everything out there - and they did that.
‘That has been a theme ever since that Bristol City game. I can’t fault the boys at all for effort.’
There were a few nervy moments after Jayden Fevrier’s 64th-minute finish reduced the deficit for the Addicks, making it 3-1.
Yet Mousinho opted to bring on Ibane Bowat for John Swift with 11 minutes remaining and line-up in a back five in a bid to shut out the hosts.
And that tactical decision helped see the Blues safely home without any further scares.
He added: ‘For 20 minutes, the best way I can describe it is we stopped making good decisions.
‘I thought we had lost control of the game a bit, so we decided to change shape and get an extra defender in there. We brought Ibane on to give us a bit extra protection at the back.
‘With the changes Charlton made they were a different threat to what they were in the first half, so we had a lot of different things to deal with (Jayden) Fevrier on and (Tyreece) Cambell on the left-hand side, then joined by Kayne Ramsay as well.
‘So we just had to be a bit more solid at the back in a game Charlton were going more and more direct - and after that spell where we lost the plot for 20 minutes we settled down.
‘It didn’t feel comfortable on the sidelines at all, but, once we watch the game back, we’ll see it was a decent way to end the game.’