A first home win at the third attempt - and while John Mousinho was delighted to see Pompey beat Cardiff City, he admitted it was not the perfect performance.

After defeats to QPR and Derby in their opening two home games of 2026-27, it was somethinf of a relief when Conor Shaughnessy and Marko Milovanovic scored - one in each half - to down the Bluebirds.

It lifted Pompey to 14th in the table and sets them up for the weekend's trip to Charlton.

Mousinho told club media: 'I’m delighted with the result and there’s also a bit of relief off the back of what has been a tough week. I don’t want to be a revisionist on anything, but the performances had been okay and we’d dominated without having enough at the top end of the pitch.

'But this time it was the opposite and we probably conceded a bit too much possession, but overall I’m pleased that we’ve shown we can win in a different way. Cardiff are a good side and we had to ride the wave, knowing there would be chances on the turnover and we took them well.

'We were aware that Tyrese had that long throw and it was something we’d worked on in training, so thankfully that came off. The second goal was really pleasing because we’ve been undone in those moments on the break this season.

'My only real complaint was that after going 2-0 up, we didn’t put the game to bed because we had plenty of opportunities to do that. I thought that Jayden Meghoma was deserving of the man-of-the-match award on his debut – you can see how athletic he and his composure on the ball.”

Mousinho also felt the day's tributes to Alan Knight, who had died five days earlier, were a fitting way to remember the goalkeeping great. 'It’s been a tough week for everyone at the club and you could see what he meant to this place with all the tributes. It was really fitting that we kept our first clean sheet of the season – which I think Knightsie will be really happy about.'

Photo: Action Images via Reuters