'Such a strange night': Portsmouth boss' joy after sealing Championship survival with 5-1 loss to Coventry
The Blues have stayed up in the Championship with two games to spare
John Mousinho toasted another successful Championship rescue act and admitted: It was a strange night.
Pompey suffered a 5-1 hammering as Premier League-bound Coventry secured the title in style in front of their jubilant fans at the Coventry Building Society Stadium.
However, Oxford United’s 1-0 defeat to Wrexham ensured that, regardless of the Blues’ thumping scoreline, they had still sealed safety with two matches to spare.
A night of mixed emotions for Mousinho, nonetheless the overriding feeling was joy having again masterminded Pompey’s survival in the final weeks of the season.
And, on the night Leicester were relegated to League One and Oxford totter precariously over the edge, Pompey can plan for another Championship campaign.
Mousinho told The News: ‘It was such a strange night.
‘For anybody who looks at Championship football, you can see an extremely good side, the best side we have played against this season by a long way, they fully deserve to be champions.
‘With everything that we had going into the game, the last week, the emotions of it, the injuries we picked up, we just couldn’t sustain it. I’m not saying we are going to come here and win the game, but we should, on our day, be better than that.
‘But I am delighted we have stayed in the league. If you had offered me this at any point in the season from October onwards, I would have snapped your hand off.
‘If you had offered me this - staying up with two games to go - after we had played against QPR, I would have snapped your hand off.
‘To do what we have done over the past six games has been remarkable. The difference between this and QPR is that we hadn't earned the right to lose to QPR like we did.
‘We earned the right tonight to lose like we did because of what we did last week, the effort we put into turning ourselves around after that QPR game - and, ultimately, it’s enough to stay in the league.’
Haji Wright’s 12th-minute goal separated the sides at half-time, yet two goals in four minutes after the break sparked a Pompey capitulation.
Firstly a horrendous Nicolas Schmid mistake gifted Ephron Mason-Clark his first, then Regan Poole put through his own net to make it 5-0 after 50 minutes.
Mason-Clark’s second and a stoppage-time strike from substitute Kaine Kesler-Hayden which went through Schmid, capped a rampant 5-1 victory - and secured the Championship title for Frank Lampard’s men.
Mousinho added: ‘For 45 minutes, I thought we were fine, we conceded from a set-piece which was really poor, but it was very tight.
‘We didn’t have a huge amount going forward, but the only other time we felt threatened was when Romain Esse dropped in on his left foot and had the shot. Apart from that, it was Coventry dominating possession without creating a huge amount.
‘I thought we were absolutely fine, even if we needed to be a bit better in moments. Then, as soon as we gave them that leg up in the second half, it was total domination. We couldn’t get near Coventry.
‘They are a good side at the best of times, without giving them a leg up on a night where they have already been promoted and can become champions.
‘They were outstanding athletically, they completely dominated us over the pitch, technically brilliant if you look at Matt Grimes dropping in and causing the problems he did.’