Portsmouth moments to cherish – on night to forget against Southampton

In many ways it was quite a dispiriting evening. You don’t want to lose to anyone 4-0 at home really, and you certainly don’t want to be doing it to them.

The scoreline certainly flattered them but you can’t argue with the fact they took their chances very, very well and did what they needed to do to keep our chances and half-chances out.

You can wonder all you like what might have happened if one of Pompey’s early chances had gone in. I happen to think we might well have gone on to win.

But that’s a pointless exercise, so we have to get over such thoughts.

The one saving grace I took away from the night – and it’s a major one – was the superb defiance shown by Pompey’s fans at the end of the game.

While the atmosphere had been pretty hot before the game and during Pompey’s opening spell of pressure, it was when the Blues were 4-0 down that the support really came into its own.

Not only did their chanting dominate the end of the game, it carried on well after the final whistle – and even a few in red and white stripes were forced to admit it was impressive.

Other highlights: getting a handshake from Mr Alan ‘The Legend’ Knight before the game and seeing Benjani back on the pitch at half-time.

Other than that, it was a case of trying to convince myself it was only the League Cup and didn’t matter anything like as much as a league or FA Cup defeat would have done against the same opposition.

And one other thought occurred... Pompey are still the kings of the 4-1 win in the south-coast derby.

In that respect, it’s a good job we didn’t get a goal back.