Why Portsmouth legend was in awe of Blues both on and off the pitch during battling win at Wycombe

More than 1,400 fans – including former Fratton favourite Christian Burgess – made their presence felt at Adams Park, creating an atmosphere to be proud of.

And those players sent out by Cowley into the heat of battle also came up with the goods as Pompey extended their unbeaten run to six games and recorded their first victory on the road since the opening day of the season at Fleetwood.

For Whittingham, the performance in the away stand and on the field of play were the perfect recipe for success.

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And he hailed both the players and supporters for making the trip to Buckinghamshire a memorable one, when so little was expected of the visitors given their absentee list because of injuries and international call-ups.

Speaking on BBC Solent, the one-time Blues boss said ‘It’s always been the way (both parties feeing off each other) and it always will be the way.

‘At Fratton Park, very often the fans will get the players going.

‘They’ll let them know, whatever the performance, if it’s not good enough then they’ve got to buck their ideas up and if they’re playing well then they go along with them.

‘But I think today (Saturday), you might have to hand it to the players first of all for the way they were fighting and battling, and then the fans, to be fair, throughout the whole game didn’t stop,

‘So the performances on and off the pitch were fantastic today and the combination got the result.

‘Because you need that as a player, you need the fans to be behind you – it makes you run and try that little bit harder and run that little bit further – and when the fans see it they carry on responding.’

The wins sees Pompey move up to 10th in the table.

It’s still not where they want to be, but Whittingham believes some of the concerns about the players’ character earlier in the season were answered at Wycombe.

He added: ‘This was a really good battling win from Portsmouth.

‘They had to because of the way Wycombe play.

‘You know, they’re so physical, they pester you all the time, they put you under pressure, little professional things they always do, little nudges, little things they get away with.

‘But it was great to see Portsmouth stand up to it and show some real character which we talked about earlier in the season.

‘Where is it? It needs to come out – well it came out today (Saturday).