Portsmouth 2 Blackburn 1: Neil Allen's verdict - Cherish fresh hope, but nothing changes. January is still pivotal

The small inflatable Santa had been discarded beside a bin outside the players’ lounge entrance, condemned to an uncertain future.

Floored, written off, cast aside, yet, curiously, far from deflated. Remaining proudly pumped up and portly, there was a distinct doggedness, irrespective of its grim predicament.

It was apt that the far-from-beaten Father Christmas should choose Saturday evening to echo a strikingly similar plight to Pompey. At present down, but definitely not out.

Make no mistake, the timely 2-1 triumph over Blackburn which lifts them out of the Championship’s relegation zone must not prompt the immediate calling off of the search party for January reinforcements. Nor will it, you can be assured of that.

A second win in 11 matches in no way signals a reversal of fortunes, rather it offers hope to a wilting fanbase and reinvigorates a little belief. Only a little, mind.

Likewise, the rising number of supporters calling for the head of Pompey’s second-best boss of the last 25 years, only behind Harry Redknapp, will not suddenly change their mind and concede they may have been a little hasty.

90 minutes changes absolutely nothing

A 90-minute fixture at Fratton Park changes absolutely nothing. John Mousinho still has his increasingly-vocal critics and the impending transfer window will definitely dictate whether the Blues retain their hard-earned Championship status.

Indeed, there is absolutely no chance the head coach will subsequently be scaling down his demands for up to six new additions in January on the basis of a win against a team now positioned just two points ahead.

Pompey’s players deserve applause for rallying from yet another losing position to claim three points through Ibane Bowat’s headed winner 11 minutes from time. Yet they should not be absolved from previous failings.

With seven defeats in nine previous matches, a run which had seen Pompey plummet from 14th in the Championship to one place off bottom club Sheffield Wednesday, the glaring weaknesses within the squad have been exposed, along with the standard of summer recruitment.

This squad still requires to recruit another striker, it still needs at least one central midfielder, it still needs another centre-half and it still needs another right winger. Maybe there also remains a desire for another left-back.

What that Blackburn outcome did offer, however, was a precious pick-me-up to liven up the flagging spirits of the Fratton faithful this weekend. Ultimately, it will be business as usual on Monday and back to the transfer hunt.

Plenty to be encouraged about

Focusing on Saturday’s match in isolation, though, there was plenty to be encouraged about, particularly how Mousinho’s men approached it with considerably more aggression, commitment and battling qualities than witnessed in recent months.

This was a team on the front foot, hunting in packs and brawling in gangs. On the flipside, there was little quality on display in attacking situations, in the first half especially, yet, promisingly, there remained heart.

Indeed, it was Blackburn’s Aynsley Pears who was the busier of the two goalkeepers, albeit the visitors entered the break with the lead, having been gifted the opportunity against the run of play.

John Swift’s careless loose pass presented the ball to Valerien Ismail’s troops in the opposition half, allowing them to launch a rapid counter attack which resulted in Yuki Ohashi curling a right-footed finish past Nicolas Schmid.

A previously optimistic home support, feeding off an encouraging performance, noticeably darkened and, when the half-time whistle sounded, Pompey were booed off. Similarly, there was a sense the crowd’s mood was continuing to turn early in the second half.

The turning point against Blackburn

Then on the hour mark, with Colby Bishop and Mark Kosznovszky now on the pitch, the destiny of the match was turned on its head.

A goalmouth scramble resulted in Pears saving Conor Chaplin’s shot, then Lang’s follow-up was blocked on the line, with Chaplin pouncing to fire off another attempt, which was again stopped by Blackburn’s keeper.

It hadn’t yielded an equaliser, yet Fratton Park was invigorated, on its collective feet reactivating to that flurry of excitement - and two minutes later they were applauding Lang’s equaliser.

Josh Murphy delivered a clever cross from the left and the former Wigan man arrived at the far post to turn it home right-footed in front of a jubilant Fratton End for his first of the season.

Then, on 79 minutes, Chaplin’s right-wing corner was headed home by Bowat for a rare set-piece success, earning the Blues just a second victory since October 4.

It capped a strong performance from the centre-half, whose game is undoubtedly benefiting from a fifth start in eight matches, as is Hayden Matthews, with his finest showing since before February’s season-ending injury.

With Chaplin looking like his usual self, Zak Swanson epitomising Pompey’s aggressive character and Terry Devlin his usual impish presence, there was plenty to like about Mousinho’s men in victory.

To their credit, the Blues demonstrated there’s still life within and a glimmer of fight - just like that inflatable Santa.

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