Portsmouth boss downplays significance of finally escaping Championship relegation zone after Norwich stalemate

Instead he insisted the manner of the Blues’ performance in the goalless draw against Norwich was far more important.

A Fratton Park point was enough to lift the Blues out of the bottom three for the first time since the start of September.

In the three months which ensued, Mousinho’s men have been adrift at the foot of the table for periods, fearing an instant return back to League One.

They are now in 21st, outside the bottom three on goal difference, offering precious belief Pompey can stay up this season.

Yet their head coach took more heart out of their display against the Canaries than their heartening current position.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Is there much significance being out of the bottom three? Not really. Who knows what’s going to happen on Wednesday night and we have games in hand on some teams.

‘The bigger thing I’m taking from the draw is the performance - and I think that’s what should boost everybody around the club a lot more than being out of the relegation zone.

‘Ultimately, we need to be in this position and hopefully higher at the back end of the season. When you are down there and haven’t played all the games, you’re only a win away from jumping a few places.

‘The placing is something we are not focused on, we have to focus on the performance and getting results.’

In a game of very few goal-scoring opportunities, Connor Ogilvie did get the ball in the net in the second half.

However, that was ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Angus Gunn, while Nicolas Schmid’s main involvement was preventing an own goal following a wicked Terry Devlin deflection.

Mousinho added: ‘Whether we did enough to win the game, I don’t know, but I definitely thought we edged it.

‘I can’t really remember Nico being tested. Having said that, I can’t really remember (Angus) Gunn being tested too much either.

‘Both teams got themselves into some really good areas and maybe both sides will be slightly disappointed not to test the goalkeeper a bit more, but it felt to me on balance that we just had a bit more.

‘We did have the ball in the back of the net, we had a good penalty shout, and didn’t get them on the day - but I thought we edged it.’