The key factor now making Portsmouth look real deal in promotion battle with Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley, Peterborough United & Co

John Mousinho saluted the arrival of a ruthless streak in Pompey’s game.

The Blues boss believes his side are now putting sides ‘to the sword’ in a manner they’ve not been able to do for much of the campaign.

And that is now giving Mousinho’s men the air of real contenders to reach the Championship, off the back of their flying form.

Pompey recorded their sixth win in seven to remain six points clear at the top of League One, and extend the gap to third to nine points.

Mousinho’s men have hit four goals in 4-1 wins over Northampton and Reading on top of a three-goal haul in the 3-1 success over Cambridge United.

That’s in contrast to much of the season where victory by the odd goal has often been the outcome.

The stats show 11 league victories by a single-goal with five successes by two goals, four games by three goals and the 4-0 win over Leyton Orient in August the only match won by a four-goal margin

The head coach acknowledged his team not making more of dominance this term is a legitimate criticism of his players, something echoed by skipper Marlon Pack who’s called for more swagger from the Blues.

Mousinho feels it’s something Pompey are now putting right, as they put their foot down on the gas with 12 games remaining.

He said: ‘It has been an issue, we’ve had a lot of narrow victories this season and this year, in fact.

‘There’s nothing wrong with that, we all like a 1-0 win, absolutely, but it’s a lot more comfortable when you put sides to the sword.

‘We’ve had far too many games over the season where we haven’t been clinical enough.

‘We’ve had games like Port Vale, where we were not clinical enough. We had a lot of opportunities in the second half to out the game to bed against Fleetwood.

‘We had the opportunities to create more chances against Oxford.

‘In two of those games we held on for the win and in the other one we didn’t.

‘These things make a big difference, so to be able to do that against Northampton, Cambridge and against Reading is really, really pleasing.’