'Using the pain': Portsmouth boss on a crazy week after spectacular response to south-coast derby defeat
Successive wins have lifted the Blues into 13th position in the Championship
John Mousinho praised his players after bouncing back from the St Mary’s ‘low’ to register successive victories within a week.
The Blues won 1-0 at Norwich on Saturday through Marko Milovanovic’s second-half penalty, representing his third goal of the season.
However, just seven days earlier, the management - and players - were being questioned following defeat in the south-coast derby at St Mary’s.
Pompey’s response was a 3-2 triumph over Sheffield United, followed by yet more joy at Carrow Road, lifting them into 13th in the Championship with a game in hand.
And Mousinho is delighted with a team which he admits are ‘running on empty’ at present.
‘Fair play to the boys, they were devastated’
He told The News: ‘We were obviously bitterly disappointed after the derby loss, but managed to bounce back.
‘There are fine margins in the games. Ebou put it into the back of the net in the 89th minute against Sheffield United and it could have gone the other way. On Saturday, I thought we deserved to win.
‘I wanted us to be low after Southampton, that was the most important message. You don’t want to come back into work on Monday with a spring in your step after losing the derby in those circumstances. Everyone has to use that pain and use that disappointment to fuel ourselves going into the game on Wednesday. Which we did really well.
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‘There’s always a balance, you have to be realistic and make sure you take the positives when you can, but also we can be better than that.
‘There are so many things we can improve upon, let's go and attack the game on Wednesday night and when we did that, we got the rewards - and we did it again on Saturday.
‘Fair play to the boys, they were as devastated as the fans and everyone around the club after Southampton. I can speak to the lads, I can try to give them as much confidence as I possibly can, but they have done it themselves.
‘I expected that reaction to be honest, I’ve spent most of the season trying to convince the group and the team that we’re good enough at the level. I look at the 10 games so far, the games we’ve won we’ve deserved to win, maybe apart from the QPR, when we were beaten by a better side on the day.
‘I know the performances are there, I still think there’s a bit more to come. We are pretty much running on empty at the minute, not in terms of energy and fitness, but the squad is a little thin in terms of injuries - and, in the meantime, the lads are dragging themselves through very well.’
Surprise star performers at Carrow Road
Mousinho’s side was unchanged from the one which defeated Sheffield United, although there was a change on the bench with fit-again Tyrese Shade replacing the injured Keshi Anderson
Surprisingly, it was the likes of Madiodio Dia and Iyad Mohamed who were Pompey’s star performers at Norwich, along with the ever-dependable Regan Poole.
And Mousinho is adamant they fully deserved their 1-0 victory over the hosts.
He added: ‘For the first 45 minutes I thought we were excellent, we controlled the game really well, we got into our shape and played some very, very good football.
‘From our box, probably up until Norwich’s box, we didn’t really create enough, I can’t remember us properly testing Daniel Grimshaw in the first half.
‘In the second half, we progressed the ball up the pitch well, but the goal came from us being active and energetic on the counter press and we managed to nick a penalty - and then defended well.
‘So two contrasting halves in terms of performance. We deserved it because of the way we want about our business at a very tough place to play.’