Portsmouth boss thanks 'unbelievable' travelling faithful for stunning Madiodio Dia transformation
The 1,360 travelling fans earned praise from the Blues’ head coach for their Carrow Road performance
John Mousinho praised the travelling Fratton faithful for inspiring Madiodio Dia to his best performance in a Pompey shirt.
The Blues head coach had previously called on supporters to give more backing to the 22-year-old, who has endured an uncertain start to life in England.
At Carrow Road this afternoon, the noisy 1,360 away fans got right behind Dia from the very first minute, singing his name almost non-stop in the first-half alone, using a wide variety of chants.
Subsequently, the centre-half was outstanding as Pompey triumphed 1-0 over Norwich to register successive Championship wins.
‘Hopefully fans can see the difference it makes’
And afterwards, Mousinho thanked the travelling support for their sensational backing.
He told The News: ‘That was an unbelievable response, hopefully the fans can see the difference it makes.
‘We’ve got this kid, despite how physical Jojo is, this kid rises in stature through the game because of the support he gets, that was evident from the kick-off today.
‘I don’t think it was a coincidence that he probably had his best game in a Pompey shirt off the back of the backing he got.
‘I’ve always known it’s in there, I’ve been with him over the past 10 months he has been at the football club. That’s what he needed today, so fair play to the fans for that response - and fair play to Jojo.
‘Jojo made his second start for us here last season, he played really well that day. For Mattsson’s goal in the first half he could have done a bit better, but he grew into the game in the second half, he was outstanding up against Mohamed Toure.
‘He’s grown into it, I’ve known he’s got it in him. It’s just about concentration all the time with Jojo, making sure he’s consistent and trying to put these performances on a consistent basis.
‘He’s still a young lad, he’s got to keep growing into games and hopefully he takes a lot of confidence.’
Along with Dia, also shining for the Blues were Regan Poole and Iyad Mohamed at a stadium which has long been a happy hunting ground.
‘The support has been unbelievable’
Even before the final whistle, the Norwich fans were singing for sporting director Ben Knapper to be dismissed, while also telling their players ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’.
In contrast, the superb travelling supporters were celebrating another profitable visit to Carrow Road.
Mousinho added: ‘Look at the response the lads gave off the back of the start of the game. I noticed it straight away before the kick-off, when the song goes around Carrow Road, that’s definitely when I heard Play Up Pompey through all that.
‘You know what it’s been like over the past four years since I’ve been here, the support has been unbelievable and we’re asking for that again whenever we go away from home.
‘We are asking the away fans to pay their money to travel all the way over here, again on Tuesday night at Wolves, and it never goes unappreciated.’