Upbeat Portsmouth boss on the positive signs which offer survival hope for Fratton faithful

The Championship table may be difficult to stomach at present, yet John Mousinho has pinpointed the positives which suggest Pompey are nowhere near down and out.

The post-match boos from supporters in the aftermath of last weekend’s sobering 1-0 defeat to Bristol City indicated patience has now snapped among many.

Likewise, plunging into the relegation zone for the first time since mid-January reflects a team not merely struggling to score, yet also in free fall.

With Fratton Park victories against three of the top five - Middlesbrough, Millwall and Preston - Mousinho is adamant his team have demonstrated they are fully equipped to slug it out with the Championship’s finest.

Crucially, they have failed to reach such levels consistently long enough during matches, singling out Birmingham as the sole occasion the Blues have been ‘blown away’.

And taking into account, the entire season to date, for Mousinho, hope remains.

‘The side can compete against pretty much every team’: Portsmouth boss

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘We have seen signs that the side can compete against pretty much every team that we play against. The only game I thought we were blown away was Birmingham, they were outstanding on the day, we just couldn’t cope with them.

‘Every other team we’ve come up against, we’ve been in the game. That includes the games against the boys at the top, the games against the lads at the bottom and everything in between.

‘That’s probably been where some of the disappointment comes from. In those tight games we haven’t actually managed to put the ball into the back of the net or keep the ball out of the back of the net. Stoke was a really good example of that.

‘Against Bristol City, when eventually when we got ourselves back into the game, we should have taken our opportunities to equalise - and we didn’t do that. Ultimately, in those tighter games, we’ve not managed to get the results.

‘But we have definitely competed at the level and, ultimately, the results are the more concerning things, so we’ve got to really focus on them.

‘There’s no point being here if there’s no belief. Confidence (among the squad) has taken a bit of a knock, naturally when you are not winning games it always does, but obviously it’s my job to try to pick the lads up and demonstrate that we can win games.

‘We’ve been in similar situations and similar spots and managed to drag ourselves out of it - so we need a little more of the same.’

Crucial week for Pompey

In the coming week, Pompey head to a Charlton side nursing four successive defeats and then a Swansea team positioned one place ahead purely through goal difference.

Then with 18th-placed Blackburn visiting Fratton Park a week on Saturday, it’s shaping up to be a pivotal week in the Blues’ season.

And with Nicolas Schmid, Callum Lang and Adrian Segecic’s returns bolstering Pompey’s starting XI of late, Mousinho is convinced the talent to succeed remains.

‘The last week has been a small example’

He added: ‘Since the closing of the transfer window, we’ve had the same players producing really good performances and the same team producing really good performances, but then not quite managing to follow those up.

‘I guess last week was a small example of that with a really positive performance against Millwall and being unable to then follow that up against Sheffield United or Bristol City.

‘We definitely have it in the squad, that’s how we've managed to beat four Championship sides this season, three of which are in the top six at the minute, and we have taken some decent results elsewhere.

‘But, when push comes to shove in certain games, we haven’t been there.’

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