Exclusive:‘Never known anything like it’: Portsmouth boss hints at grander ambitions for season after testing Championship run
Pompey are punching above their weight in the Championship. Does their head coach now see a side with the ability to sustain their push up the table?
John Mousinho believes Pompey’s recent run of Championship games is the toughest he’s ever known.
And the Blues boss admitted his team’s impressive response to that challenge made Saturday’s loss to Stoke City all the more frustrating, as he hinted at grander ambitions for his team this season.
Stoke City ‘missed opportunity’ hints at Mousinho Pompey ambition
Mousinho branded the defeat to the Potters on Saturday a ‘missed opportunity’, as Pompey failed to take the chance to enter the international break in the play-off places.
The eight games between the October and November pauses for second-tier football were billed as a huge step up quality for the Blues, after a presentable opening to the season.
The response was four wins and two draws off the back of south-coast derby defeat at Southampton at the start of October, propelling a push up the Championship table.
There was potential for an even greater return with Mousinho’s men in the ascendancy against Stoke on Saturday, as the two in-form sides met at Fratton Park.
Giving up their lead to the Potters, however, meant Pompey failed to take the chance to finish the afternoon inside the play-off places.
A further three points would have seen them sitting above Southampton in seventh place across the international break, with three games in eight days starting with a trip to Bolton Wanderers next week.
Despite inferior resources, Pompey have shown how they can stand toe to toe with the Championship’s big hitters across their recent resting run.
That fact has not been lost on Mousinho whose regret at not being further up the table hints at his ambitions for the season.
He said: ‘Had we lost last Tuesday and won against Stoke the feeling would’ve been very different.
‘The biggest thing for me was Stoke was a missed opportunity.
‘The run of games we’ve been on, I’ve never really known anything like it.
‘We have either been playing one of the big boys or one of the high-flying sides.
‘If you look at the run, we played Southampton and Sheffield United - both have been in the Premier League recently.
‘Then we went to Norwich who are clearly a good side, when you look at the run they’ve been on since we played them and what they did to Bristol City on Saturday.
‘We went to Wolves, who’ve won every game up to the weekend after playing us.
‘We played Millwall who are a very good side and finished third last year.
‘Then there was Burnley, Swansea during the week and Stoke on Saturday. These are big, big clubs with big resources and very good sides.
‘So when you take that into context the run we’ve been on is really good. It’s just so frustrating we didn’t follow it up on Saturday. ‘
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