'Not a vintage performance': But Portsmouth boss' delight after huge win on day when rivals Derby, Peterborough and Bolton struggled

John Mousinho toasted Pompey strengthening their grip on the League One promotion spots, but admitted: ‘It wasn’t a vintage performance’.

The Blues secured a fourth win in five matches through Paddy Lane’s 62nd-minute winner at rock bottom Carlisle.

Admittedly, it wasn’t the same swaggering performance levels served up at Northampton the previous weekend in which Mousinho’s men oozed quality.

The visitors were comfortable, with Will Norris not required to make a save, as they eased to 1 -0 win which extended their lead to six points at the top of the table.

And Mousinho conceded their latest victory failed to match that impressive Cobblers showing.

He told The News: ‘It wasn't a vintage performance, certainly compared to last week, but well enough to win the game.

‘I don’t think we were backs to the wall by any means, we remained in the game and had the best chances. To come away, win a game, keep a clean sheet and be the dominant side was really pleasing.

‘There were loads of aspects of the performance we could do better at, particularly starting the game, I thought we were slightly sloppy for the opening 25 minutes.

‘After Will got a bit of treatment, we livened up a bit, but in the final third there was still a bit more we could have done to create a few more chances for ourselves.

‘I suppose that’s a familiar story to the times when we’ve struggled this season, but if you get to half-time away from home and it’s 0-0, it gives you a chance to tweak things and change the game in terms of substitutions - which we managed to do.

‘Towards the back end we defended really well and Will didn’t have a save to make, which was really, really pleasing. We obviously dealt with Carlisle’s direct threat and saw the game out relatively comfortably, without conceding any chances.

‘We didn’t get the levels of last week. There were glimpses where it could have done, it was a superb goal, for instance.

‘We would have put the game to bed if we got the second, maybe we then become a bit more relaxed and don’t tighten up quite as much as we did in the last 15-20 minutes.’

With rivals Derby and Bolton drawing, and Peterborough losing for a third straight match, results also went the Blues’ way.

Although Mousinho still wants an improvement from his table-topping side.

He added: ‘Probably my only criticism is that we stopped playing a bit. We went a bit longer, you have to find that right balance between going long, shelling it, defending your own box and actually trying to play a bit.

‘When we play, I think we’re a really good side and have the potential to get the goal that we did score.’