Portsmouth boss' pride at ‘grit and determination’ of his wounded heroes after battling win over QPR

Josh Murphy inspired the Blues to a 2-1 success over QPR, scoring one and then setting up the other for Matt Ritchie in a five-minute second half spell.

As ever, however, Pompey had to do it the hard way, with Rob Atkinson (calf), Isaac Hayden (ankle) and Zak Swanson (tight hamstring) all going off injured.

Central defender Hayden Matthews also suffered injury late in the match yet, with no substitutions remaining, had to play up front.

And Mourinho saluted his battling troops following a third successive win.

He told The News: ‘It was one of those where the game went well for us up until QPR’s goal, but then we really did have to dig in.

‘We were very, very comfortable up until that goal, it came from absolutely nothing, and, all of a sudden, it’s a completely scenario that we’re facing.

‘QPR are right back in it and anything can go wrong if you don’t give yourself a three-goal cushion - but the grit and determination of the boys, particularly the five subs that came on was brilliant.

‘We ended up with Hayden up front, Christian dropping into a six, Colby dropping into a 10, that’s a good indication of where the lads were at in terms of their mentality.

‘We ended up with a back four of Terry (Devlin), Marlon (Pack), Regan (Poole) and Connor (Ogilvie), with just one of those starting the game.

‘The lads were right at it, ready and willing to go, and the squad is massively important. We’ve seen that time and time again this season, it changes very, very quickly, the lads have to keep themselves at it.’

Victory moves Pompey into 16th place, nine points clear of the relegation zone.

It follows wins over Cardiff and Oxford United, who are both now below Mousinho’s men in the Championship table.

He added: ‘I thought it was a really cagey first half, both sides pressed pretty well, neither side could really get anything going in terms of playing and there was hardly anything in the game really, a few little moments here and there.

‘We mentioned at half-time that if we’re not going to play a huge amount of football that’s fine, but we are going to try to play a bit more in the final third and then it’s just about dominating small moments.

‘I thought we were superb after the break, we came out in the second half and pressed really well, creating chances.

‘I have two criticisms. One is not putting the ball into the back of the net for a third when we had some opportunities, and the other being a bit cagey once that QPR goal went in, but naturally that’s going to happen.’