Portsmouth

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John Mousinho has praised Pompey wide-man Josh Murphy who he says is striving to live up to his potential.

Murphy, who turned 30 last month, was nominated for February's Championship player of the month award after scoring one goal and assisting four more in a month which saw the Blues take 10 points from five tough Championship fixtures.

A former England under-20 international, Murphy came through the ranks at Norwich City and played in the Premier League for the Canaries and later Cardiff, but after a loan spell at Preston, dropped down to League One for the first time in his career to join Oxford United in 2022.

Pompey boss Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent the recognition was: "Down to Josh himself and how well he's turned around that period of his career where he didn't have as much success as he'd have liked.

"He really knuckled down, by the time Oxford signed him it was later in pre-season, he was on a free, there was nobody that really fancied him, so it was completely down to what Josh did in that two-years to put himself in the shop window and have a fantastic back end of last season."

Murphy moved to Fratton Park on a free transfer after the U's joined Pompey in earning promotion last season. He ranks joint-third overall in the Championship for assists with nine, along with his six goals in 31 appearances.

"The most pleasing thing for me is that Josh didn't just produce what he did from February onwards for Oxford and then get a contract here and rest up," Mousinho added.

"It's really fuelled him to go again and to make sure he hits the heights he can hit.

"Fair play to him, he's physically in probably the best shape of his career and it's all paying off for him at the moment, so I'm really pleased for him."

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John Mousinho says he has an 'unhealthy' habit of fixating on defeats and can vividly recall all 25 he has endured as Portsmouth boss.

The 38-year-old was appointed at Fratton Park in January 2023 and suffered four losses in his first 23 matches in charge as Pompey finished eighth in League One.

Portsmouth lost only five of 46 matches last season as they finished as champions, though Saturday's 1-0 reverse at Luton was their 16th in 35 games following promotion to the Championship.

In 104 league games under Mousinho, Portsmouth have won 48 and lost 25 and after, being in the relegation zone in mid-January, a run of five wins, one draw and four defeats in the last 10 games have given the club an excellent chance of avoiding an immediate return to the third tier.

Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent when it comes to defeats, the trick is to get the right balance between reflecting on them and moving on.

"The key is to get over it as quick as possible, but what you don't want to do is just brush it under the carpet and not learn from some of the mistakes we made," Mousinho said.

"We made sure we got everything out of our system [after Luton]. There's still some important things to be aware of going into future games."

With the visit of Championship leaders Leeds on Sunday [12:00 GMT], Mousinho said he finds it harder not to dwell on bad results.

"I can still remember every single loss from last season and the season before, and this season as well.

"You never properly get over them because there's always something to take from them.

"The wins go out of your mind. It's probably not a particularly healthy habit in football – the losses are always amplified and it feels like the end of the world, after you win a game you want to try and keep your feet on the ground and play it down."

The final game of the Championship weekend sees leaders Leeds United travel to Portsmouth on Sunday (12:00 GMT).

Daniel Farke's side are unbeaten in 17 league games but could be level on points at the summit when they head to the south coast, if Sheffield United win on Saturday.

John Mousinho's Blues go into the weekend in 17th, with an eight-point cushion over the relegation zone.

• Portsmouth are winless across their past five league games against Leeds United (D4 L1), after the pair drew 3-3 at Elland Road in August.

• Leeds United have failed to win any of their past six away league games against Portsmouth (D4 L2), since a 3-2 victory at Fratton Park in April 1986.

• Portsmouth have won eight of their past 11 home Championship matches (D2 L1), having failed to win any of their first six home games this season (D3 L3).

• Leeds United are unbeaten in their past 17 Championship games (W12 D5), their best unbeaten run in the league since going 30 games without defeat between May 1973 and February 1974 under Don Revie.

• This game will kick off at 12pm with Leeds picking up just 1.22 points per game in league fixtures this season that have kicked off earlier than 3pm (P9 W2 D5 L2), compared to 2.50 points per game in games that have kicked off at 3pm or later (P26 W20 D5 L1).

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Terry Devlin wants to repay Portsmouth's faith in him after being handed a new deal at Fratton Park.

The versatile 21-year-old midfielder was limited to four appearances off the Blues bench in their opening 11 Championship games.

But the Northern Ireland Under-21 international - who arrived from Glentoran in 2023 - has featured in 20 of Pompey's next 24 league games, starting nine of them at right back, and has been rewarded with a new three-year contract at Fratton Park.

He told BBC Radio Solent: "I'm buzzing to sign a new deal. I have loved it every since I came over – it's been tough but it's been unbelievable. I can't wait to continue the journey.

"Obviously the club think something about me and offered me a new deal, which I am really pleased about. I just can't wait to repay them and keep working as hard as I can."

Devlin helped Pompey earn promotion from League One last season and admitted: "It's been a huge step up. At the start of the season it was really tough, finding myself in and out of squads, but I have worked as hard as I could to get myself back in there and kept myself in there ever since.

"It's been a really good turnaround from us. At the start of the season we were finding our feet, I think we were all a bit taken aback by the standard and intensity of the league.

"We have got our feet on the ground now and know what to expect, we know how to get results and play a bit better."

Leeds United earned a battling 3-3 draw at Elland Road in their opening game of the season in August and renew acquaintances at Fratton Park on Sunday (12:00 GMT).

"We got a really good point away from home," Devlin added. "It was a really crazy game, they hit the bar three times in the first six minutes. Thankfully we stuck in there and got a point.

"They are top of the league for a reason. They're going to be playing Premier League football next season. At home it suits us a bit more, we've had a good run of form at home and when the crowd gets behind us it can be really tough for opposition teams. We're going to give them a good game.

"There's a lot of points to play for, the job's (survival) not done yet, we have got to go and finish it off."

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Plymouth forward Ryan Hardie, Leeds United winger Dan James, Portsmouth wide man Josh Murphy and Norwich City striker Josh Sargent are the four nominees for February's Championship player of the month award.

Hardie only played 101 minutes across three league games for Argyle last month but still netted four goals, scoring twice from the bench late on in the 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion and another double in the 5-1 thrashing of Millwall.

James was in scintillating form for the Whites, scoring three goals and providing four assists in five games in February.

The 27-year-old netted one, set-up two and won a penalty in the 7-0 hammering of Cardiff, scored twice in the 4-0 win at Watford and laid on both goals in the vital 2-1 victory at title rivals Sheffield United.

Murphy provided four assists and scored one goal in five games for Portsmouth as they pulled further clear of the relegation zone in February with a draw and three wins, including a 2-1 victory against QPR in which the winger curled in a wonderful effort.

Sargent was prolific throughout February, scoring five goals in five games for Norwich City to take his overall tally for the league season to 11 in 21 appearances.

Portsmouth's three-match winning run came to an end with their 1-0 defeat by Luton in the Championship on Saturday.

Pompey are eight points clear of the relegation zone but now have injuries to central defenders Rob Atkinson and Hayden Matthews.

Atkinson will be sidelined for at least six weeks while ankle surgery means Hayden Matthews will miss the remainder of the season.

"The confidence in the side has improved - they hadn't played many games together but when you have that instinct as a left and right centre-half it falls into place better," former Portsmouth striker Guy Whittingham told BBC Radio Solent

Chris Wise, Andrew Moon and Guy Whittingham discuss the loss at Luton and the current injury situation on the latest edition of the 'Who needs Mourinho?' podcast.

You can listen to this and past editions of 'Who needs Mourinho?' on BBC Sounds.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

There are some games considered "a great advert for the Championship", this was not one of them.

It was physical and scrappy played out on a poor pitch, there was barely a shot on target. It wasn't helped by Sam Allison's refereeing.

John Mousinho described the first half showing as "dreadful" and it's hard to disagree. Nothing went right for Pompey and their deliveries into the box were especially poor.

They fought back in the second half and Connor Ogilvie will be rueing his late miss.

It's an opportunity squandered for Pompey as a win would have made it extremely tough for Luton to have caught them. That being said their survival bid remains in good shape.

Regan Poole and Marlon Pack did okay as centre-backs but Hayden Matthews and Rob Atkinson will be missed.

Image source, PA Media

Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho said his side were "far from good enough" in their 1-0 defeat by Luton.

The loss means his side stay 17th in the Championship and managed only one shot on target throughout the game.

"It is difficult to sum up really. There was very little in the game. We killed ourselves in the first-half, I thought we were dreadful," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"I didn't think we did the basics right. The thing that sums up the first half is after about five minutes one of our central midfielders is on a booking for a ridiculous challenge and we are giving away free-kick after free-kick, it is a 180 [degree turn] of the gameplan.

"The attitude wasn't right. We were much better in the second half but it was too late. It was far from good enough.

"I don't think we were getting torn apart by a side that did anything extraordinary, we just made horrendous decisions. The goal came from our free-kick.

"Today was a massive opportunity to put a bit of daylight between us and the bottom three and we decided not to take it."

Basement-boys Luton host resurgent Portsmouth on Saturday (15:00 GMT) in a game with big implications at the foot of the Championship.

The Hatters have picked up just three points from eight league games under new boss Matt Bloomfield and have scored only one goal across five home games since Christmas.

Town's poor goal difference means they are effectively six points from safety while John Mousinho's men have climbed nine points clear of the relegation zone off the back of three straight victories.

• Luton Town have won just one of their past 10 league games against Portsmouth (D3 L6), though that sole victory did come in their last meeting at Kenilworth Road, a 3-2 win in January 2019.

• Portsmouth have won two of their past three away league games against Luton Town (L1), as many as across their prior 21 visits combined (D5 L14).

• Luton have failed to win any of their past 12 league games (D3 L9), their longest winless run in the Football League since a 13-match stint between January and March 2008.

• Portsmouth have won their past three league games in succession and will be looking to win four in a row for the first time in England's second tier since March 2011 (six wins).

• Portsmouth's 2-0 win at Oxford United in their last away game ended a run of 11 games without a win and seven straight defeats on the road. They last won consecutive away league games in the Championship in February 2011.

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Portsmouth boss John Mousinho says there has to be a wariness around the demands placed on players.

It comes as the Pompey head coach chose not to disclose details of his injury list at his weekly news conference ahead of their Championship match at Luton on Saturday.

The expectation was that Mousinho would outline the timelines for when defenders Rob Atkinson and Hayden Matthews would return but instead the Pompey boss will reserve that information until after Saturday's game.

"The best thing is I'll give you the full rundown after the game," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"You'll have a good idea of where we're at with the starting line-up on Saturday and I'll speak to you about it afterwards."

Portsmouth have suffered a number of injuries throughout the season with long-term absentees including defender Conor Shaughnessy while they were also without Jordan Williams, Freddie Potts and Callum Lang for last weekend's win over QPR.

"I've been at the club for two years now and we've never had a clean bill of health," he added. "We were watching Championship games on Tuesday night and players were getting injured for various reasons.

"It's one of those seasons where it's only going to get worse with the state of the pitches and the weather and the demands on players so it's something we need to be wary of in the future."

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Portsmouth's brilliantly-timed run of form is both delighting their fans and starting to convince many observers that Championship survival is theirs for the taking.

For Matt Ritchie it was never seriously in doubt.

Saturday's 2-1 win against Queens Park Rangers was Pompey's third in a row and took John Mousinho's side nine points clear of the relegation zone with 12 games to go.

Just over a month ago, Portsmouth were next to bottom after suffering a fourth defeat in five at Blackburn.

That came after a start to the season that saw Mousinho's team win only one of their first 14 games and among the favourites to make an immediate return to League One.

"We certainly didn't feel that internally," Ritchie told BBC Radio Solent. "We felt like we had enough.

"There were obviously some lessons we had to learn quickly and, certainly for me personally, there wasn't one moment when I thought 'I'm not sure we've got enough here'.

"I think we can play different ways and adapt."

Ritchie's third goal of the season put Pompey 2-0 up against the Hoops and although Jimmy Dunne halved the deficit with 15 minute to go, Portsmouth held on for another vital victory.

"It's a big win and three more points in trying to achieve Championship status for next season - that's the objective," Ritchie said, before adding he "hadn't scored enough tap-ins" in his career.

With a trip to bottom-club Luton up next on Saturday, before the unenviable task of trying to upset leaders Leeds a week later, Pompey have a decent chance to extend that winning run to four.

But Ritchie underscored the value in staying grounded, despite their winning form.

"We have to stay with our feet on the floor," he said. "We had a nice run but the margins in those games have been so small. We have to make sure we continue to take care of the small moments."

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Portsmouth FC

Colby Bishop has been key to Portsmouth's recent progress.

He scored 20 league goals in consecutive seasons in League One but his efforts this campaign are arguably more impressive.

His recovery from open heart surgery was far quicker than anyone expected and his return to the side has coincided with Pompey's significant improvement.

The new deal is just rewards for a player who's had to fight his way through non-league football and didn't play in the second tier until he was 28.

Tom Chappell
Fan writer from Fournilwrittenalloverit

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

A benchmark of 13 wins in any given Championship season usually guarantees divisional status for the following campaign.

With that in mind, John Mousinho's side need to find just three wins from their remaining 12 fixtures to all but meet that threshold.

A slightly better return from the remaining dozen league matches would mean Pompey would stay up with interest.

Three wins on the bounce in the Championship is an incredibly difficult feat to achieve - you have to look as high as seventh-placed Coventry City for another team with nine points from their last three games.

QPR's trip to Fratton Park was perhaps the hardest I've seen the boys work in a single game so far this season - and the moment the full-time whistle blew, seemingly half of the XI wearing blue shirts collapsed to the ground in a mixture of exhaustion, injury and relief.

It was another occasion when Pompey's overall performance was far from eye-catching yet there was an underbelly of impressive showings from individuals all over the pitch.

Matt Ritchie's goal tally creeping up, an assist for Andre Dozzell and a creative, live-wire performance from Adil Aouchiche were three subtle standouts from Saturday.

The headline-grabbing Josh Murphy continues to shine as Pompey's flagship attacking outlet - a player who, certainly from an opposition's perspective, is instruction immune.

No matter how many managers drip feed their left-back on how Murphy is not allowed to cut in on the right, in piping-hot form and with such an eye for the target, there is no stopping him whatsoever.

A final mention from me is for the heroism of Hayden Matthews.

He picked up a seemingly innocuous issue with a good 10 minutes to play plus what felt like never-ending time beyond the regulation 90. This meant a young man who could hardly move hobbled around as a number 9 for as much as he could give.

It was what can only be defined as a proper 'Pompey effort' from him - giving it absolutely everything right to the very end.

Not a wonder really that the Fratton faithful have so duly taken to the lad.

A season-defining away day awaits Pompey at Kenilworth Road this weekend. Back-to-back away wins, considering some of the low points suffered on our travels this season, would be a sensational moment in our story back in the second tier to date.

Find out more from Tom and his channel by clicking here , external

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent reporter

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A third win in a row underlines where this Portsmouth side is now. Heading in the right direction, away from the relegation zone.

For a second straight week it was a pretty dull first half for the neutral. That though underlines how much better defensively Pompey are than the first few months of the season.

Josh Murphy turns 30 today. He must be catching eyes with his consistent, outstanding performances. A great goal and excellent assist secured Pompey three points against QPR. He must be a strong player of the season candidate.

However, there's another nervous few days ahead waiting on scan results. Rob Atkinson picked up a calf injury while Hayden Matthews could barely move by the end and left on crutches. Potentially, Pompey may have lost three centre backs in under two weeks.

Even if it's bad news though, surely Pompey have enough to complete their survival mission from here. They've looked like a solid mid-table Championship team for a decent period now.

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho felt that 'small moments' at the start of the second half proved decisive after his side held off QPR to record their third win in a row.

Mousinho's side put a tepid first half behind them by scoring twice inside three minutes through Josh Murphy and Matt Ritchie and, although Jimmy Dunne halved the deficit for the visitors, it was not enough.

"It looked like a game where both sides were a little bit worried about opening up," the Pompey manager told BBC Radio Solent.

"QPR pressed us really well so we didn't have an opportunity to play, but we came out in the second half and just got the small moments right and I thought we were superb up until they scored.

"That made the game naturally a bit fractious and nervous for us at the back end, but we dealt with it. There were elements of the performance that were absolutely superb so I'm very pleased."

Dan George & Andrew Moon
BBC Sport, South

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Portsmouth boss John Mousinho says that despite two recent wins, the bottom of the Championship table is "still really tight".

Victories over Oxford United and Cardiff City brought a welcome six points for his side, who are now seven clear of the relegation zone with three teams between them and the bottom three.

Pompey's win away at Oxford was their second on the road this season and their first away from home in four months.

"It's still really tight," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"We have put ourselves in a really good position, though, because of the two wins that we picked up last week, but there are plenty of big - and good - clubs still below us.

"The way that I see it is that we have to focus on ourselves and pick up as many points as possible, we'll just keep going until we're actually safe.

"Naturally after games we do have a look at the table but the most important thing is for us to focus on ourselves and let the rest take care of itself."

The Blues host QPR on Saturday as they look win three games on the bounce for the first time this season.

Portsmouth won the reverse fixture 2-1 earlier on in the season, and another win could push them as high as 16th in the table if other results also go their way on Saturday afternoon.