Skipper Paul Robinson spoke of his delight at turning a 2-0 deficit into an unlikely victory against Tranmere - and admitted a below-par performance could have had a touch of 'after the lord mayor's show' about it.
Paul Robinson said the Blues struggled to maintain the levels shown in the 6-2 win at Cambridge as Rovers took a two-goal lead at Fratton before a remarkable turnaround.
Robinson told The News: ‘Maybe it was always going to be difficult to back up that sort of performance and result. There might have been a bit of a hangover from that.
‘I was a bit disappointed because I felt we were a bit lacklustre at the start. If we had been at the intensity and tempo as we have been in recent weeks, the game would have been ours for the taking much earlier.
‘It was a bit frustrating but I fancied us going forward and that showed in the second half. We know the performance level wasn’t as high as it has been recently. But we dug deep and we managed to get the result so we will take a lot of belief from that.’
Robinson said he had told his team-mates to keep fighting until the final whistle even if they didn't think they would salvage the game - which they did thanks to goals by Craig Westcarr and Ryan Taylor (2).
the skipper added: 'Even when it didn’t look like it was going to be our night, it was important to stress that to the lads that we kept going until the final whistle. I was trying to press home to the lads that if you get one, you can get two and it’s amazing how the momentum swings — especially at a place like this when the atmosphere really builds.
‘It’s important that you keep at it, no matter how long it takes. If you keep going, you can get something out of it. I’ve seen it plenty of times down the years and it just goes to show what can happen.
‘Games can change in an instant. You get that one goal and you see the belief coming back and the opposition start looking a bit more tired. Westcarr got the goal and it gave us a big lift. Then Taylor gets his goals and we came away with a crucial three points.'
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