‘Best I’ve ever experienced’: Portsmouth boss’ huge statement in tribute to 4,000-strong travelling army at Peterborough

John Mousinho revealed the Pompey show of force he witnessed at Peterborough was the best he’d ever seen in football.

The Blues boss admitted he’d never seen backing of the quality produced by the 4,000-plus travelling blue army at London Road, in his side’s crucial 1-0 win.

The decibels went up well before kick-off from those in the away section on two sides of Peterborough’s home and didn’t relent, on an afternoon which saw their team take a giant step towards the Championship.

There were delirious scenes on the final whistle as Pompey players joined their followers in celebration on a day to savour.

Mousinho spoke of the benefits of those who travelled to the east of the country turning the occasion into a home game.

That’s how it felt as a crowd of 12,744 watched the action unfold, with backing on the road the head coach had never experienced before.

He said: ‘I came out for the warm-up and for anyone who wasn’t here there was this raucous atmosphere.

‘I wanted to come out and have a look at a few bits and Jon (Harley) and I spoke before we went in and spoke to the players and we were saying “that’s some atmosphere”.

‘I’ve played a lot of football games and I’ve been to a lot of football games and I think, and I genuinely think this I’m not just saying it for the sake of it, that was probably the best away atmosphere I’ve ever experienced in football.

‘I can’t think of any better than that. It obviously helps that we won, but that was absolutely superb.’

The win means Pompey remain five points clear at the top of League One with seven games remaining, but crucially the gap is now nine points to those outside the automatic promotion berths, with Bolton third after a 1-0 loss to Derby.

That is something Mousinho feels his side should savour, with a two-week gap to their next action against Wycombe after the international break.

He added: ‘I think we should, I think we should enjoy the moment. If you can’t enjoy that you’re in the wrong game.

‘It’s off the back of a really difficult week going to Blackpool and a game on Tuesday night, which ended really tensely.

‘I said in the pre-match, I think Peterborough are one of the best sides in the league with the damage they can cause if we didn’t get things right.

‘So I think we should definitely enjoy it and then roll on to the Easter weekend.’