Former Portsmouth favourite lauds ‘perfect performance’ after Middlesbrough heroics as survival battle takes fresh twist
Pompey earned a huge three points in the race for survival as they claimed a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.
Guy Whittingham has lauded Pompey’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough as the ‘perfect away performance’
And the former Fratton favourite believes the Blues’ never-say-die spirit will be enough to keep them in the Championship this term.
It represented the Blues’ only shot on target throughout the entire contest as they put in a gutsy defensive display to keep Kim Hellberg's promotion-chasing outfit at arms length at the Riverside Stadium.
Pompey triumph at Middlesbrough the ‘perfect away performance’
And after Mousinho’s troops stole the show deep into stoppage time, Whittingham is adamant Pompey’s display in the north east represented the ‘perfect away performance’.
Speaking on BBC Radio Solent, he said: ‘I can (believe what he’s seen) actually because we’ve seen it happen to Portsmouth in the last few games at Fratton Park, where teams have sat deep, defended extremely well, keeper making saves, not being able to finish the chances but this time it’s just swapped round.
‘Portsmouth defended deep, conceded chances, saves from Nicolas Schmid - one really good save, a clearance off the line by Andre Dozzell and then they got the sneaky goal right at the end. It was a delight to travel all this way.
‘They've got a real spirit, I’m not saying they just had it today but they’ve had it throughout.
‘It was a different game plan today where they made sure that if Middlesbrough were to get through them defensively, they had to beat them with some really good play.
‘Middlesbrough did a couple of times, a couple of saves from Schmid and the clearance off the line, but just staying in the game and how important that is. Tactically slowing the game down at times.
‘It’s the perfect away performance that’s what it is.’
Survival battle takes fresh twist after Pompey heroics
Pompey had spend large parts of the afternoon in the bottom three, with Oxford United securing a 2-0 win over Watford.
But Chaplin’s last-gasp heroics saw the Blues lift themselves back above the dotted line and maintain their one-point advantage.
And Whittingham believes Mousinho’s troops have stepped up to the occasion after fending off fourth-placed Middlesbrough.
‘They’ve done it somehow (staying above the relegation zone),’ he added.
‘That run of games, those two draws, it’s brought them back into the relegation dogfight and how confident were we that they were going to stay up.
‘What we said was that they were going to need one of those games - the Middlesbrough, Ipswich Town and Coventry City games - to give themselves a chance and they’ve done it on the first attempt at Middlesbrough.’