Pompey boss John Mousinho gives his verdict after the 2-0 EFL Championship win at Oxford United.
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00:00Here with Pompey boss John Massina. John, that was a really big win full of character and professionalism.
00:07Yes, a hard-fought victory, I think, and a tight game overall. That's what the games are at this level, they're just really, really tight margins.
00:15When we've been on the receiving end of it, we've lost games or drawn games that we maybe should have won.
00:20Today, I thought we did enough to win the game, to be honest, and especially after going 1-0 up, I thought we kept the hammer down and we created a few chances to go 2 or 3-0 up.
00:28That was disappointing that we didn't, and it probably wasn't until the last 15 minutes that Oxford created a couple of chances.
00:35Nicko has pulled us out with one massive save and Matty Phillips has missed the header underneath the bar, but I actually thought we deserved it.
00:44I thought we had enough to win the game.
00:45Yes, a medical emergency first and foremost with the support. How did you think your players dealt with that?
00:54Interesting one. I mean, yes, first of all, hopefully the fan is absolutely fine. We're all as good as can be.
01:00We got the news about 15 minutes before we restarted the game, but the fan was breathing and was okay.
01:08So, yes, hopefully that's continued and we wish the fan a speedy recovery.
01:13We actually started the game really well. The first 12 minutes, we were right on top.
01:16The break, I don't think we handled it poorly, but we didn't come out quite as well after the break.
01:21It took us 20 minutes to get into the game after that and then we settled down.
01:24I thought we were pretty solid, nice and in control in the first half.
01:27There wasn't a huge amount in the game and, yes, it's one of those really, really difficult and a lot of stuff starts in the game, but we dealt with it well.
01:35Andre Giselle's not got many goals. He's got a screen for QPR on his record, hasn't he? But a bit different today.
01:43You know, it's good for Doz to get off the mark with us. We've spoken about adding goals to this game, which I think he can do, particularly from that advanced position.
01:51Technically, a very, very good player, so I think we should probably see a bit more from him there.
01:55But the goal wasn't there. The goal was obviously an important part of the game for him, but it was much more about his overall play.
02:00I think he was absolutely superb today. I thought his performance was outstanding.
02:03Marco Mane back in the fold again and back in with a goal amidst some really positive substitutes.
02:09Yes, we've got some good competition, I think, coming back in with Thomas being unlucky to miss out of the squad.
02:15Kevin had a big impact and Mark, not getting back to where he left off, but certainly at the start of his Portsmouth career, where he did score against Oxford, he scored against Stoke.
02:25He looked like a real threat, so really good to get him back on the pitch and good to get him back scoring.
02:29That's the reason that we ended up staying with six loans, because we knew it was really important.
02:36Mark's come in today to score and he's returned for quite a long time, I think, since that's happened.
02:41Yes, a couple of months. You've been naturally reliant on Colby Bishop, haven't you?
02:46Does that show you that you have got changes in your locker now in that department?
02:50Yes, so in the last few weeks, we've had Tom come on and score, Mark's come on and scored.
02:55We've got Cass to come back from injury, Christian has had a massive impact as a nine in the season.
03:00Not least all the two goals up at Middlesbrough and everything else he's done.
03:04So, yes, I think a really solid competition that we've got going on there.
03:08Even Eli, not to forget the big goal that he scored up at Leeds. That's what we need.
03:12I thought today it was pleasing to be able to bring on the five subs that have contributed and to look back at actually the four that we didn't bring on.
03:21Tom left in the changing room all of a sudden and I think, well, actually, there's plenty more to come from all of them.
03:27One change you made going into the game was Hayden Matthews today.
03:30A really impressive performance and showed that he can step up to Championship level.
03:34Yes, I thought so. I thought he was excellent on his debut a few weeks ago against Millwall.
03:37And today, again, he's got to step up and play against a really, really good centre forward at the level.
03:43I think an international, but someone who was brilliant last year and causes a lot of problems this year.
03:50So, yes, very, very pleased for Hayden.
03:53A young lad coming in from a different country to the Championship.
03:56Probably a natural question mark would be, can you handle the physicality?
03:59It's quite a physical game today, so he handled what was thrown at him pretty well.
04:03I think, yes, I didn't look at any of the situations with Hayden.
04:06I think he got bullied off the ball or was really weak.
04:10Yes, I was very pleased with that.
04:12Something we're going to continue to work on with him and all the players.
04:15But, yes, I don't think that was a deficiency at all.
04:18OK, we know Conor's got a bit out for a while.
04:21We'll talk about that in a second.
04:22But are you confident with your other options that Hayden can fill Conor's boots along with what you have there?
04:26He's going to have to. Yes, he's got no choice, I think.
04:28And that was the point.
04:30You can look at all the different permutations that we've got and all the different players that we've got.
04:34We decided to go with Hayden today and the players have got to step up.
04:37The players have got to step up and they've got to fill in as necessary.
04:41And they wear the shirt with pride.
04:44And that's the only thing they can do.
04:46If there's any deficiencies in the players' games, that's fine.
04:49But as long as they give absolutely everything and commit themselves to the football club, then they won't have any complaints.
04:54Just on selection, Terry Devlin came in and did very well during the week.
04:58You went with Zach Swanson.
04:59What was the thinking about that?
05:00Can Terry feel a little bit hard done by?
05:02Probably, but I thought that Zach was really good against Sheffield United.
05:08Huge amount of energy.
05:09I thought he'd been good in the week before that.
05:12I've been really pleased with Zach's contributions this season.
05:14I just weighed it up and I thought on one half of football, that by his own admission, he was poor.
05:19I didn't think it was worth completely letting go of that.
05:23It wasn't an easy decision because Terry's champion of the bit.
05:26We've got three good options there.
05:28I think it's right back to him.
05:29He's obviously injured at the moment.
05:30We decided to go with Zach.
05:32And obviously, they've got a bit of pace down that side with Leandembele.
05:35Is Zach's boots probably more suited to that?
05:38Yeah, I think they are very, very different players.
05:40But certainly, both of them can defend really well.
05:43Zach, probably coming from an academy background, you might expect he isn't quite as an accomplished defender.
05:48But he really is.
05:49Obviously, I had the blip the other night.
05:51But I think that overall, since I've been here with Swan, he's been very good.
05:56Terry's a different type of defender, probably a bit more tenacious and front-footed.
05:59But yeah, they've both got really good qualities looking to the table.
06:02Conor Schott, bless you.
06:03What's the outlook there?
06:04Probably about six to eight weeks, unfortunately, with Conor.
06:06So, hopefully, we'll see him this season.
06:08But just one of those hamstring tears.
06:11Yeah, nothing we can do about that.
06:13Just an unfortunate one.
06:14Look back at the game and look back at the decision to play him.
06:17I still would have made the same decision.
06:18He's played in a win and he scored the winner.
06:21That is important to us.
06:22Obviously, Conor's longevity and long-term outlook for the season as well.
06:27But just one of those, I don't think we could have done anything about it.
06:30Is that probably in line with what you were expecting before you were confirmed about the news about the injury?
06:34About right, yeah. He was really struggling to leave Staten Park the other night.
06:37So, we weren't thinking it was going to be a two-weeker.
06:40And when Lange went down, it looked like, clearly, that was a hamstring issue.
06:43I think it's a hamstring issue.
06:44There's going to be a bit of time out, I think.
06:47But if you compare Lange to Schott, Schott's really struggling to move the other night when he came off.
06:53Lange's gone and had a shower.
06:55He's walking okay.
06:57Not freely, but he's walking okay.
06:58It looks a lot of a better outlook.
07:00We know how important Lange's been to us.
07:01So, hopefully, that one's okay.
07:02Yeah, so, quietly optimistic for how things, as much as they can be at this moment, I suppose.
07:07And we've got a three-week and then a three-week after that.
07:10A couple of those coming up now.
07:11Which is nice.
07:12So, hopefully, that gives us a bit of time to settle down.
07:14Yeah, Regan pulled back on the bench today.
07:15Obviously, he came through training well.
07:16And that's another positive.
07:17Yeah, real positive to have Regan back, to have him in the squad.
07:20Big influence around the place.
07:21And, yeah, again, we need that competition, particularly with Schott's out.
07:25And the centre-half options I talked to you about today, with a few of them getting back in and getting fit.
07:30That's great news.
07:31And it just feels buoyant and at the right time of the season.
07:33And the upwardly mobile and back-to-back successes as well is obviously very important.
07:37Yeah, a couple of back-to-back wins over the past couple of months.
07:40Really important to following, actually, the Sheffield United performance with two positive results.
07:45And sometimes the irony of football is, you know, probably the best performance of the three was the one at Sheffield United that we lost.
07:58I think this was the second-best performance.
08:00But we deserve to win it.
08:02We just have to make sure we stay at it and keep building upon that.
08:05We're getting towards the sharp end of the season.
08:06This is the time we do need to pick up results.
08:08And, you know, we've done sort of not even half the job.
08:12We've done a bit of a percent of the job and we need to keep going.
08:14Lovely.