'Running out of superlatives': Portsmouth boss John Mousinho on remarkable Fratton Park day against Coventry

The Blues were trailing to Norman Bassette’s third-minute opener - then their leading scorer grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.

The inspirational Lang netted all four of Pompey’s goals as they stormed back to pull off a stunning 4-1 victory in front of a jubilant 20,330 crowd in the final match before Christmas.

It was the first time a Pompey player had struck four in a game since Yakubu achieved the feat against Middlesbrough in May 2004.

And it represented another magnificent contribution from this season’s outstanding player so far.

Mousinho told The News: ‘If you look at our performance as a whole, I’m really pleased with the second half especially, when I thought we were superb.

‘The first half was good in patches, but it was such an open game that I don’t think either head coach would have been particularly pleased with how many chances were being conceded at either end and how many breaks there were in terms of fast breaks and counter-attacks.

‘But, once we settled down and pinned Coventry in their half, I thought we were superb, really good value for the win.

‘I have run out of superlatives to talk about Callum Lang. His performance against Coventry - not just the goals he scored - but his entire performance, the way he held the ball up, the way he pressed, the way that he caused problems.

‘Deservedly he has gone home with a hat-trick ball plus one.’

For Pompey it was a return to form following the dreadful Derby performance in the previous fixture.

So far, that Pride Park 4-0 hammering appears to be an outlier during the Blues’ marked improvement over their last eight fixtures.

And Mousinho has, overall, been delighted with their performances, starting from Hull in November.

He added: ‘It's a difficult one, we don’t want to brush Derby under the carpet, but, at the same time, we don’t want that to define what we’re going to do over the Christmas period and into January.

‘We have to take a lot of positivity from the way we’ve been playing, particularly at home. We have been great at home.

‘We probably have to address a couple of areas that we need to get better at away from home, that’s absolutely fine, and we have two away games coming up.’