'How can you not be happy?': Portsmouth boss still loving life on the south coast with 'amazing' football club

The Blues head coach added to his lengthening list of achievements by toppling Championship leaders Leeds 1-0 at Fratton Park on Sunday.

That remarkable result against a team previously undefeated in 17 league fixtures strengthened Pompey’s survival hopes, lifting them 10 points above the relegation zone with 10 matches remaining.

It was Mousinho who masterminded the Blues’ return to this level after a 12-year absence, having led the club to the League One title in his first full season.

Inevitably, the 38-year-old’s outstanding ongoing performance will have captured the attention of rival football clubs.

Nonetheless, Mousinho - who signed a new Pompey deal in September - is adamant he continues to love life on the south coast.

He told The News: ‘You are much happier when you win games - I am really happy.

‘I challenge any head coach or manager to experience what everybody experienced on Sunday at Fratton Park and not be happy at this football club.

‘It’s such an amazing thing to be part of and a real privilege. I have spoken about that a lot since I’ve joined and days like Sunday show it’s just not lip service.

‘It’s an amazing thing to be part of, an amazing place to play football, to watch football, to coach football.

‘We tie everything in together with how the club has been and how much support I’ve had since I’ve come here, which is through the very good times last season and also 100 per cent support through all of the tough times this year. That marries up to hopefully being a successful partnership.

‘Going into the season, we weren't thinking we just wanted survival, we didn’t quite know what the landscape of the Championship would be. What we didn’t want was to set our sights too low or too high - we just wanted to take every game as it comes.

‘Pretty early on, it became apparent we needed to focus on making sure we stayed in the league, which has been the sole focus for pretty much the entire season.

‘There have been times when it has looked much less likely than other occasions in the season. We have to keep going with that, keep our heads down, keep focused on it and make sure we just pick up enough to be safe.

‘On reflection, we are in an okay position, we are much better than we have been in previous parts of the season - and we have to keep building on that.’

Pompey job is ‘half done’

Pompey were two points adrift at the foot of the Championship at the end of November following a 2-2 draw at Swansea in which they surrendered a 2-0 lead.

However, the Leeds result signalled a fourth victory in five matches, keeping Mousinho’s men in 17th place.

They now head into Wednesday night’s clash with struggling Plymouth (7.45pm) on 42 points - with the opportunity to further strengthen their encouraging position.

The Blues head coach added: ‘We’ve had some interesting times this year, to put it mildly, particularly when we had the run at the start of the season and not picking up enough points.

‘At times during the season, even when picking up points, the away performances and some of the results weren't good enough.

‘If, at any point, I had sat here during some of those press conferences and you would have offered me 42 points with 10 games to go, I’d have snapped your hand off.

‘But we don’t want to get carried away with ourselves. There’s always something which is going to bite you around the corner, we have seen that in the Championship this year, any mistake is pounced upon. You get punished.

‘If you ever think you’ve cracked it or done the job before you’ve actually done it, football has a really, really harsh way of snapping back at you. We’ve got half a job done - and have a hell of a lot of work to do to make sure we finish it.’