Portsmouth dressing room sends defiant survival message as relegation battle intensifies with Leicester City, Oxford United & Co
Pompey remain one point above the relegation zone following Friday’s 1-1 draw against Norwich City.
Regan Poole is confident Pompey have what it takes to secure Championship survival this season.
And the 27-year-old believes the recent international break came at the right time, offering the Blues a much-needed reset for the all-important run-in.
The hard-earned draw ensured Pompey kept their future in their own hands, with one point separating themselves and 22nd-placed Leicester City with seven matches remaining.
Defiant message from Pompey dressing room as fight intensifies
With the race to beat beat the drop intensifying with a less than a month to go in the campaign, Poole believes the Blues are in a false position with results in recent months not reflecting their improved performances.
And the popular Welshman has made it clear Mousinho’s troops do have enough quality in the squad to finish above the dotted line come May 2.
He told The News: ‘We’ve got full belief in the group that we’ve got in the building to do what we need to do.
‘We know we should be on whatever points we’re on. We’re not on it but we know we should be higher up in the table than what we are.
‘Performances haven’t reflected points at the end of the day. We’ve dominated many games, the Sheffield United’s at home, the Hull at home defeat, they’re two early ones that come to mind. They should’ve been six points and they’re just the ones that come to the top of my head.
‘We know we haven’t got the points we deserve but we can’t change what’s happened. There’s seven games now and I don’t care how we get the points, we just need to get them.
‘It’s massive (the run-in). We’ve got ourselves in a good position, we’re still outside of the relegation zone and it’s still in our hands.
‘We should be higher up in the table, we’re not but we’re still a point above the relegation zone. There are teams that are in worse positions than us, we’re only focusing on us, we've got a job to do and we’ve got the players to do it.’
International break came at good time for Blues
Ahead of the international break, the Blues were given a major reality check by QPR, who ran out 6-1 winners at Loftus Road.
Following a spirited display against Norwich on Good Friday, Poole believes the two-week stoppage came at the perfect time for Mousinho’s men, who have been given a ‘fresh start’ to attack the run-in.
‘Yeah, I think so (the international break came at a good time). It was kind of a fresh start for us and we needed to whip whatever happened in the season.
‘Seven games are a lot of games, it’s not like if you lose one and you’re done. We know how many points we need until the end of the season, how we get them, how it looks, I don't care.
That goal (against Norwich), I don’t care how it looked, it just went in and that’s the main thing.
‘Credit to every single player, we had a job to do and we did it.’