‘Stoke, Cardiff and Derby’: The sides highlighted by Portsmouth boss in Championship cautionary tale

The Blues boss confessed he never felt his team would be vying with Stoke City, Derby County and Cardiff City for their place in the second tier this season.

But that trio of clubs being in the dogfight to stay in the division paints a revealing picture of how quickly the terrain can change, in the division rated by many as the fourth toughest in Europe.

Pompey travel to Oxford United this weekend buoyed by their huge win over Cardiff in Tuesday’s six-pointer at Fratton Park. The victory lifts Mousinho’s side to 18th in the table - their highest position since August - and pulls them four points clear of the relegation zone.

But the Blues head coach is guarding against complacency, with those in the three places below his side unexpected company in the table.

Stoke battered Mousinho’s side 6-1 last October with Cardiff delivering the most one-sided of 2-0 wins on their patch later that month. Derby also rolled the Blues over 4-0 in December and were 14th in the table, after cruising to that success.

Yet winless runs for those teams after dealing with Pompey mean they are firmly in the scrap to remain in the division this term.

Mousinho said: ‘It’s always tempting to look at what’s happening, and we looked at the games on Wednesday. Genuinely, though, it’s most important we look at picking up points and we don’t get too obsessed with what’s going on around us and who’s picking up what.

‘The picture always changes in the Championship.

‘Sides who look like they are out of it, all of a sudden pick up points and shoot up the league with a nine-point week. That changes everything and vice-versa there are sides I thought would be nowhere near it, who are all of a sudden battling down there.

‘Really good examples are us getting beat really heavily by Stoke, Derby and Cardiff.

‘For all the money in the world, I looked at Stoke, Cardiff and Derby, to be honest, and thought they’d be nowhere near it - but a bad run of games means that happens.

‘So we just have to try to avoid that, avoid that poor run of results and make sure we pick up results. That’s all we can do - focus on ourselves and let everything else take care of itself.’