A triumph for the 'underdog' - now Blues hero wants Portsmouth fighting spirit more often

Now the winger is challenging the Blues to demonstrate such battling qualities not often glimpsed on a more consistent basis.

Danny Cowley’s men claimed a gusty 1-0 success at Wycombe on Saturday through Harness’ 73rd-minute strike.

It represented a first League One away victory since the opening day of the campaign at Fleetwood.

In the process, the Blues displayed heart and commitment which has, at times, been frustratingly absent.

Harness told The News: ‘A performance like Wycombe is probably what we have been missing so far, that grittiness at times.

‘It’s definitely in there. It’s just finding a balance between trying to be a good team which wants to play attractive football and then being gritty and able to fight when we need to.

‘We have it in us, but it’s trying to be that every week on a consistent basis.

‘It’s a work in progress and we are working on bringing that out of us – and hopefully we can do that.

‘On Saturday it was quite nice to be the underdog for once. Playing for Pompey can have a lot of expectation, people expect you to win because of the club’s size.

‘We were the underdog, had a point to prove, and used it to our advantage against Wycombe.

‘So much was stacked against us, facing a really difficult team to play, at a difficult place to play – and put in a great performance.’

That’s now six matches undefeated for the Blues, who move up to 10th in League One.

Slowly they are hauling themselves back onto their feet following that Ipswich humiliation.

Cowley added: ‘It’s just one win in the grand scheme of things.

‘But it's another game we are unbeaten, we’ve kept a good clean sheet and will take a lot of confidence from it. We’ve proved we’ve got it in us, it’s just about bringing those qualities out again in the future.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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