‘I’ve got an admission...’: Portsmouth boss John Mousinho with the truth behind THAT Charlton goal celebration
Blues supporters have loved the head coach’s reaction to Terry Devlin’s second goal against Charlton
John Mousinho has revealed the truth behind the emotional Pompey goal celebration which has been lauded by the Fratton faithful.
At the time, few may have spotted the Blues head coach’s response to Terry Devlin’s 30-yard swerving right-footed shot which crashed into Charlton’s net to make it 3-0.
However, the wonderful moment was captured on video, with Mousinho uncharacteristically enthusiastic in marking the Northern Irish international’s second goal of The Valley clash.
With arms aloft, he raced from the technical area down the touchline in the direction of the 2,504-strong away following, a reaction compared by some to Jose Mourinho.
Although, Mousinho has a confession to make - he actually cuts short his celebration because he thought Devlin’s attempt hadn’t even gone in.
‘I don’t think I’ll be doing that again’
He told The News: ‘As you can tell, I was obviously pleased! I don’t think I’ll be doing that again, though, very rarely does that happen.
‘I’ve got a bit of an admission actually. I thought “Oh we’ve scored”, then I didn’t think it had gone in because the ball came straight back out - and then I realised it had gone in. So it was a bit of a strange 10 seconds for me!
‘When we were 2-0 up, Charlton made three changes at half-time, naturally it’s a really dangerous scoreline and I felt that next goal was going to be really crucial - and it was.
‘It gave us that breathing space, gave us the breathing space to make a couple of mistakes like we did, which was always going to happen I suppose.
‘Just the nature of it, the fact Terry carried the ball for 20-odd yards and then an unbelievable strike from what must have been about, I’m guessing, 30 yards. It was brilliant to see and in front of the away end, everything came together.
‘I’m delighted for the boys, we’d had a lot of pressure at the start of the second half - in terms of us building towards Charlton’s goal - and I just knew the importance of that third goal for us and also for Terry.’
Devlin’s shot, of course, struck the inside of the left-hand post before finding its way into the net, giving Pompey a 3-0 advantage after 56 minutes.
That lifeline subsequently signalled a tough 15-minute spell for the Blues to negotiate, prompting Mousinho to bring on Ibane Bowat for John Swift and go five at the back, with three centre-haves.
But the visitors, thankfully, had enough on the scoreboard to ensure they saw out a third away win of the season.
‘We gave ourselves a cushion to go on and win that game’
Mousinho added: ‘A lot of the time if we go a goal up or grab an equaliser, it’s a very different emotion (when celebrating), you are straight back onto the game.
‘Obviously I wanted that 3-0 scoreline as well, it felt like a crucial moment for us, and it turned out to be because that did give us the breathing space.
‘If we concede that goal to make it 2-1, maybe it's a completely different game. But, at 3-0, we gave ourselves that cushion to go and win that game.’