Sky Sports pundit shares exciting Portsmouth admission as key Millwall prediction made

Sky Sports pundit Andy Hinchcliffe has lauded Pompey’s outstanding Championship turnaround after their south-coast derby disappointment.

And the former Manchester City and Everton defender has commended the work of John Mousinho amid the ongoing injury crisis at Fratton Park.

Pompey have enjoyed an impressive rejuvenation since their hugely-frustrating 1-0 defeat to 10-man Southampton earlier this month.

The St Mary’s blow, however, sparked a brilliant response from Mousinho's troops, who claimed seven points from a possible nine.

After wins against Sheffield United and Norwich City, the Blues came from behind to claim a hard-fought draw against Wolves in midweek.

Their turnaround comes amid an ongoing injury crisis at Fratton Park, with 10 players sidelined for Tuesday’s stalemate at Molineux.

This has forced Mousinho to name two goalkeepers on his bench for all of the previous three matches, with Keshi Anderson, Conor Shaughnessy, Connor Ogilvie, Josh Murphy, Colby Bishop, John Swift, Luke Brooke-Smith, Franco Umeh, Benji Arthur and Mark Kosznovszky all out.

And the Blues’ strong reaction has been praised by Sky Sports’ EFL expert Hinchcliffe, who admires Mousinho’s style of play amid their ongoing injury crisis.

And the former left-back has also given his prediction for Saturday’s Fratton Park contest against Millwall.

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Sky Sports pundit’s strong Pompey call after Championship turnaround

Speaking on the latest episode of Sky Sports’ Essential EFL podcast, he said: ‘With Portsmouth, John Mousinho has done a terrific job. They’ve had a lot of injury problems, a lot of attacking injuries.

‘They’ll be disappointed with that second half against Southampton when they had the extra man but couldn’t lay a glove on them. Lost that big game and it’s always devastating but it’s how you respond to that.

‘(They beat Sheffield United), they beat Norwich City - it wasn’t glamorous but made life really hard for Norwich, got the penalty and scored it.

‘Went to Wolves and showed their resilience and tenacity, it’s not about being the best team in every game but the ability to grind out results until you get your best players back (from injury) and then you can develop and become more dominant.

‘When they lost to Southampton I was thinking Norwich away, Wolves away this could get tricky. But John’s not let that happen, the players have not let that happen.

‘They’ve responded really well and in this league it’s so important to have that resilience and putting a game to one side, even if it is the south-coast derby and you’re devastated that you’ve lost it. It’s just another game of football and you learn from it.

‘You can’t let that bleed into the next few matches, you can’t let one defeat in a big game mean you lose three of four after. You suddenly become really precarious.

‘But, John has done a really good job considering the players he’s had missing.

‘I admire the way that they play. It’s not the most glamorous style of football but it’s effective and gets the best out of his players. That is a sign of a really good coach.

‘When he gets his better players back, I’m sure there will be development again.

‘You don’t want to develop the team without winning matches, that’s what’s so important in this league.

‘This will be a tight game, I’m going for a 1-1 draw. I can’t see an obvious winner.’

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