'Portsmouth's best 45 minutes by a long, long way': John Mousinho applauds Blues' battling point at Hull

The Blues were facing a third successive defeat as they entered half-time trailing 1-0 to Hull City, having barely been able to seize possession of the ball.

However, Josh Murphy’s leveller 19 seconds after the restart launched an impressive second-half display which prompted the home fans to boo off their team at the final whistle.

Indeed, only the crossbar denied Callum Lang grabbing a stoppage-time triumph as the Blues were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Regardless, Mousinho was delighted with his team’s showing and, in particular, their level of display over the second 45 minutes.

He told The News: ‘I thought we were okay in the first-half. I know there was a real contrast in terms of what we produced in the second half, but the key thing for us was not doing what we’ve done against the likes of Cardiff and Stoke - and managing to stay in the game.

‘We were probably slightly passive and needed to press slightly higher in the first half. We were really disappointed with the goal and Nico made a brilliant save, but after that there wasn't much for him to do.

‘That was a big message at half-time, don’t panic, we’re in the game, we’ll get a goal. Although the lads got the goal a lot quicker than anybody imagined.

‘It was one-way traffic after that, I thought it was a brilliant performance, our best 45 minutes by a long way so far this season.

‘We had to be a bit more aggressive, a bit more front footed, and the most pleasing thing was - even after scoring the goal - we still stayed on the front foot and didn’t drop off. What it took was a bit more bravery and athleticism.

‘We showed that really, really well in the second half. We nicked the ball back so many times and the only disappointment was we didn’t score more goals off the back of it.

‘With our equaliser so early in the second half, I was actually worried at the time that it was going to negatively impact us. I didn’t know whether that would impact us, but the lads kept going, created chances and opportunities, and were really unlucky not to win the game.’

For Hull, it represented five matches without victory, while undoubtedly they expected more against the Championship’s bottom club.

And the boos towards Tim Walter’s side at the final whistle rubber-stamped the effectiveness of Pompey’s display.

Mousinho added: ‘The booing reflects on our performance. I know there is a big expectation when a side bottom of the league comes to a side like Hull, especially when you go a goal up early.

‘Probably a lot of people in the stadium thought that would be it. We didn’t think that, we didn’t believe it.

‘We put in a really, really good performance to show that, when we do things right, we are definitely at the level.’