'No hiding away from it': Portsmouth boss adamant survival signs are there
Pompey are presently one place above the Championship relegation zone after four points from two games
John Mousinho didn’t catch the travelling supporters’ post-match chant of ‘We are staying up’ at Pride Park.
Nonetheless, Pompey’s head coach is adamant there are ‘encouraging signs’ as his side bid to successfully haul themselves from relegation danger in successive Championship seasons.
A 1-1 draw at Derby built upon the victory over Blackburn in the previous weekend, earning four points from a possible six heading into the Christmas period.
And Mousinho believes there are good indicators that the season may be about to improve.
Portsmouth boss: There are really encouraging signs
He told The News: ‘I didn’t hear what the crowd were singing, but there’s no hiding away from it in terms of where we are in the league at the moment. We’ve got to try to push ourselves up the league to take us away from that.
‘We have shown promise in the last week, but that’s all it is. We have two massive home games coming up and will see how we are at the turn of the year.
‘There are really encouraging signs. We lost 4-0 at Derby last year and got absolutely blown away. I know both sides are different, but that was the place we were in just before Christmas last year.
‘Back then we were good at home, absolute garbage away from home, so we just need to find that consistency.
‘From the result against Swansea, everybody was disappointed. But my take after that Swansea game was we actually played quite well on the day and then conceded the goal, which was frustrating.
‘It’s just about being more consistent with the things we did and, ultimately, making sure we didn’t make mistakes which led to their goal. And, for the most part, I think we did that on Saturday.’
On Saturday, Callum Lang’s sixth-minute opener was cancelled out by Hayden Matthews’ own goal on the stroke of half-time.
Regardless of being unable to hold onto their winning advantage, Mousinho was pleased with how his side performed against the Rams.
In addition, it represented a first point on their travels since the televised 1-1 draw at Leicester City on October 18.
‘A bit more confidence and belief’
He added: ‘One of the messages I am trying to get into the lads is to have a bit more confidence and belief.
‘One of the things we have struggled with this season is physicality from set-plays. If you look at the height on Saturday, the size that Derby have in the side, it was a complete mismatch.
‘But it isn’t about height and size, it’s about aggression and it’s about intensity and it’s about detail to doing your job from set-plays. I thought we stood up to that extremely well.’
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