'Portsmouth's atmosphere is special - opponents fear it': Rob Atkinson hails Fratton Park's charms after Middlesbrough triumph

John Mousinho’s men racked up their fifth home victory in six matches on Saturday, following a 2-1 success over Middlesbrough.

For home debutant Atkinson, it was a first experience of playing with the Blues faithful on his side, following previous visits with Oxford United and Bristol City.

With his opening three Pompey matches arriving away from the south coast, it was certainly an eye opener for the on-loan central defender.

And he sung the supporters’ praises after Matt Ritchie’s double secured the win over their high-flying opponents.

Atkinson told The News: ‘It was nice to be on the right side of it. I have been in the away dug-out here before and there’s so much atmosphere, it’s really special actually. It’s a proper football club.

‘I’ve played here before but that was different, in the Covid season with Oxford. We actually got a point there, probably because there was no crowd to intimidate us.

‘The reason why we’ve done so well here recently is pretty obvious - it’s the fact the stadium feels on top of you when you’re on the pitch.

‘They are cheering every tackle, every pass, any positive thing, and it really surges the adrenaline through when you hear the roar of the crowd. On the flip side, when you’re an away player and you hear it, it kind of sucks all the energy out of it.

‘There are some big stadiums out there, it’s one thing having a nice, big stadium, it’s another actually filling it to the brim and producing that atmosphere.

‘We aren’t high up in the league or anything, we are towards the lower end, but the fans are still here, still making an absolute racket and that's a big reason why we are picking up points here.

‘It’s a traditional stadium. These modern stadiums are not as loud as this, I don’t know the reason, perhaps they might struggle with acoustics.’

Atkinson featured for 80 minutes before being replaced by Ryley Towler as Pompey continue to ease him back into first-team football following injury.

It was another eye-catching display from the central defender who had spent 22 months on the sidelines, initially following an ACL problem.

He added: ‘Middlesbrough are a great team doing really well, we made them work really hard and they struggled a bit - that’s down to the stadium and us working hard as well.

‘There’s a natural fear factor and that is one of the things which kind of defines you as a professional footballer. Whether you can deal with that animosity of coming here, a tough away day and getting something.

‘It’s really hard.’