Modest John Mousinho: Don't credit me for remarkable Portsmouth turnaround

The Blues registered their first league away win since October following a 2-0 triumph at Fleetwood.

Colby Bishop and substitute Joe Pigott got the goals, while the visitors had to see out the final 21 minutes with 10 men following Joe Morrell’s dismissal.

Nonetheless, they have now lifted themselves into 10th spot – six points off the play-offs – after successive League One wins.

Mousinho was appointed on Friday and has overseen just two training sessions, but has already rejuvenated the Blues.

But he is adamant, the players – not the 36-year-old – should receive the applause.

He told The News: ‘Importantly and genuinely, the lads have won two matches because of what they have done – not me.

‘They produced on Saturday when the chips were down and they did it again at Fleetwood in a completely different manner.

‘They were absolutely brilliant, thoroughly deserved it, I honestly would have been gutted for them more than anything if we hadn’t got anything out of the game.

‘At the moment it’s all messages that I’m getting across to the lads. It’s all meetings and what I say. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to train on Monday with the frost - and they are taking everything on board.

‘It’s hard to do that when they are not working on that on the training pitch and the nature of the schedule over the next week means we're not going to have a huge amount of time to do that.

‘Very little is down to me, there has not been a huge amount I have been able to do. Instead (with the players) there’s naturally a bit of energy around the place and enthusiasm.

‘I give them a lot of credit because it’s difficult in their spot to sometimes know how to respond when your head coach comes in. I’m giving them ideas and trying to put as much into them as possible without over-egging it.

‘Especially in two days we have never been able to work on what happens if you go down to 10-men – and that’s a really good example.

‘So how on earth did that happen? Because they are good footballers, they are good pros, they know what they are doing, they went very, very solid and defended the box really well.’

Pompey dictated the first half, with Bishop netting his 15th goal of the season to give them a deserved lead at the break.

Then, when down to 10 men, substitute Pigott registered within five minutes of his entrance to seal the victory.

Mousinho added: ‘In the first half, Marlon (Pack) got on the ball really well and Ryan Tunnicliffe and Joe Morrell provided us with some excellent forward play a bit further up the pitch.

‘It was a completely different performance in the second half. Fleetwood made changes at half-time but didn’t really threaten our goal, which was pleasing from a defensive standpoint.

‘Down to 10-men with 21 minutes to go, went 4-4-1 – and there’s not much I can do at that point apart from scream like a madman on the sidelines!’