'Different class. The best there is' - Portsmouth players hail travelling Fratton faithful for their 'insane' support at Southampton
Pompey were accompanied by 2,700 fans for Sunday's trip to Southampton - and their presence was warmly appreciated by the Blues’ players
Pompey team-mates Josh Murphy, Marlon Pack and Colby Bishop have paid tribute to the travelling Fratton faithful for their ‘different class’ and ‘insane’ support at Southampton on Sunday.
A total of 2,700 Blues fans were allowed into the 32,384-capacity St Mary’s stadium for the first league meeting between the two sides in 13-and-a-half years.
And while the away supporters were effectively outnumbered one to 11 by their hosts for the goalless draw, it was the boisterous away end that generated the most noise and helped the south-coast derby live up to its reputation as one of the best in the world.
That raw passion and commitment to the Pompey cause - after being transported into Southampton via an early-morning police escort - couldn’t help the Blues turn a goalless draw against a Saints side that spent more than £50m in the summer transfer window into a well-deserved win.
However, the fans’ presence was not lost on the Blues’ players. Murphy said he was now excited by the levels that January’s meeting between the two fierce rivals at Fratton Park would reach; Pack admitted the support on show left him with ‘goosebumps’; while Bishop claimed Pompey’s support is ‘the best there is’.
Josh Murphy already looking forward to return fixture v Souuthampton
Murphy caused £3m Southampton full-back Mads Roerslev all sorts of problems throughout the game as he proved to be the Blues’ most effective attacking threat.
It was a performance that warranted a goal or an assist. And while there was disappointment that he couldn’t produce a golden moment to separate the sides, he was still mesmerised by what he saw from the away fans.
‘You can see it was almost like a home game with the fans there,’ enthused Murphy in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.
‘So, yeah, back at Fratton, it's going to be unreal. They (the fans) are there through thick and thin, and the Fratton one's going to be something special.’
Murphy added: ‘First league derby in a long time, and the fans properly turned up.
‘It's a shame we couldn't get the three points, but I thought everyone, to a man, was absolutely excellent, and the fans, they were a different class.
‘Probably lacked the bit of quality that we needed to win the match, but that's a work in progress.’
What Pack and Bishop said about Pompey fans at St Mary’s
Portsmouth-born Pack missed out on playing in his first-ever south-coast derby.
A knee injury picked up in the latter end of pre-season that then required surgery meant the club captain had to make do with only a place on John Mousinho’s bench for his first match-day squad involvement of the season.
However, sat among his fellow substitutes, the 34-year-old couldn’t have been prouder with what he saw from his team-mates on the pitch and the Blues supporters packed into the away end.
Posting on instagram, the midfielder wrote: ‘The atmosphere was everything I knew it would be from our fans… pure goosebumps on arrival.
‘Proud of this group of players for putting in that level of performance and for understanding what this game means. PUP.’
Joining in in heaping praise on the fans, stand-in skipper Colby Bishop wrote on social media: ‘Unbelievable. The best there is. Thank you for your insane support. A positive point, on to the weekend.’