Modest Portsmouth boss dedicates League One Manager Of The Month accolade to others after beating off Blackpool, Oxford United and Wycombe

The Blues’ outstanding September has been recognised with their head coach being awarded the Sky Bet Manager Of The Month for League One.

Pompey secured a haul of 13 points from a possible 15 during a month which saw them top the table, having pulled off some notable results over promotion rivals.

This represents his first job in management, having been appointed at Fratton Park in January, but Mousinho’s impressive performance continues to catch the eye.

He beat off Matt Bloomfield (Wycombe), Neil Critchley (Blackpool) and Liam Manning (Oxford United) to earn the vote of the Sky Bet panel.

And the 37-year-old paid tribute to the team behind him, including assistant head coach Jon Harley, goalkeeping coach Joe Prodomo and first-team development coach Zesh Rehman.

Mousinho told The News: ‘As a player and as a fan, I’ve always heard head coaches and managers use the same cliche after receiving this award – and now I realise the reason why they do it, because it’s true.

‘There’s nothing I can do on my own whatsoever, I am hugely reliant on the staff here, the way the club operates from top to bottom, and, as we have publicised really well, we’ve tried to change that over the past year.

‘It’s recognition for the work the whole club has done during the month of September, which really was a tough month, but we won every game apart from the Derby draw.

‘If you look back at that week when we had Derby and then Barnsley, with players out and a few missing through circumstances beyond our control, to still come away with the points that we did was excellent.

‘That took a hell of a lot of work from the staff and the whole squad. The players really dug in and took control of the situation.

‘This award is about everything the club as a whole have done. The staff have got behind us and done everything from top to bottom to enable me to be able to do my job a lot easier than I probably ever imagined.’

Pompey aren’t in action on Saturday, with their scheduled trip to Northampton postponed through international call-ups.

The Blues are without Terry Devlin, Paddy Lane, Regan Poole and Alex Robertson during the international weekend.

Although with Oxford also out of action, they cannot be toppled as League One leaders, with Mousinho’s men six points clear of third-placed Barnsley.

He added: ‘The message for everybody is that we’ve got another seven months to go and have to dig in, keep on going and keep winning games.

’Hopefully this award is a reflection of good things to come – as well as everything we have done over the past year.’