Gaffer: Some people are panicking - but Portsmouth definitely aren't getting relegated

How do you assess Pompey’s second-half display?

There were two teams at Hull. The first-half team were dire, really poor, and if it hadn’t been for Nicolas Schmid in goal we could have comfortably been 3-0 down.

Then there was the second-half team. Whatever Mousinho and others said at half-time to them did the trick, they were completely different. That was probably one of our strongest 45 minutes of the season so far.

Josh Murphy’s early goal was absolutely key, it was a little fortunate, there’s no doubt about it, it entered the net in slow motion. Still, it went in, which is what counts.

After that we utterly dominated, the press was good, we were strong, everybody stepped up and everyone was on it. We should have won it.

There was a really good penalty appeal in the second half on Kusini Yengi, how that wasn’t given I’m not sure. I was astounded how he didn’t get it.

Who stood out for you?

Callum Lang was my man of the match, simply because he was a constant menace. He ran and ran and ran, was a thorn in the Hull defence, and by far our strongest attacking threat.

He has been our best player so far this season and, without doubt, has Championship calibre. If we had Colby Bishop to play with Lang, the start to this season could have been a completely different story.

I love the fact he doesn’t give up. We all like a fighter and somebody that likes to run non-stop, putting in some tackles. Defenders don’t like people running at them and Lang does that so well, he’s tricky and has the mileage in the tank.

So does that point provide you with any optimism?

I’m a glass half-full kind of person, so if I was to make a prediction right now, we definitely aren’t going down. Some people are panicking a bit, yet we’re only 13 games in, there is still one transfer window to go.

We are strong enough to get out of danger, but we’ll need some proper replacements because the transfer policy hasn’t worked.

Mr Cullen said we were getting first-team ready people, but we’ve brought in some players who clearly aren't first-team ready because he’s not playing them, like Abdoulaye Kamara.

I am not despondent and I’m not worried about relegation. We are strong enough to get out, but we need consistent performances like we’ve just seen at Hull.

‘I’ve been watching Pompey since 1969, I’ve seen some dire teams - and this one is not in that league. We just need the hunger, desire and belief - and I think we’ll be fine.

Which players do you believe have adjusted to the Championship?

Lang is good enough and, of the permanent players, he is head and shoulders above everybody else. Freddie Potts has definitely got ability.

Yengi is not the same player he was last season. If he was he could be tearing apart defences in this league, but he’s not for some reason, he’s off it. I don’t know why, I can’t put my finger on it.

Of those not quite Championship standard, I would put Connor Ogilvy in that bracket, he seems to be a bit of a weak link down that left side.

Murphy got a six in my ratings for Hull, only on the basis he scored. Apart from that he wasn’t that good. Let’s hope he can kick on now and show us what he can do because there’s no doubt he can play.

Nicolas Schmid - 7

Terry Devlin - 7

Regan Poole - 6

Tom McIntyre - 6

Connor Ogilvie - 5

Matt Ritchie - 8

Andre Dozzell - 6

Freddie Potts - 7 

Josh Murphy - 6

Callum Lang - 8

Kusini Yengi - 5