‘Know how to win a game of football’: Boss dismisses flak as Portsmouth reach for immortality against Barnsley

John Mousinho saluted his team’s winner’s mentality as they aim for title glory against Barnsley.

And the Pompey boss is adamant his men will get everything they deserve if they seal the Championship crown under the Fratton lights.

Mousinho’s side bid to complete their promotion mission, after 203 days at the head of League One against the play-off chasers.

Pompey have faced some criticism from those who question their credentials and the way they’ve gone about their business this term

But Mousinho feels he’s created a winning machine, one who’ve lost four times in the league are on a 16-game unbeaten run.

Mousinho said: ‘Internally we know what we want to achieve and what we want to do on the pitch.

‘We want to be a side who can play good football when we can, but we also want to be a side who are efficient and ruthless at times. That’s what getting out of leagues is all about.

‘There’s been times like at the weekend when we weren’t at our best. We didn’t play some of the football we’ve played this season.

‘It was contrasting performances from, say, Shrewsbury to Saturday but we managed to get the job done in terms of what we needed to do.

‘We got the job done and to be fair to the boys we’ve done that all season.

‘The three boys who were in team of the year epitomised that. They are very good professionals and excellent footballers who know how to win a game of football.

‘They thoroughly deserve to be in there and we probably could’ve had a couple more, to be honest. But the League One side is extremely competitive with some fantastic players in there.’

Mousinho gave an honest assessment of the 1-1 draw at Bolton, on Saturday which sets Pompey up for their shot at the title tonight on home soil.

The head coach recognised his team were fortunate to get a return against Ian Evatt’s side, but feels the evidence shows they’ve earned their place at the head of the League One table.

Mousinho added: ‘Saturday was a rare one. There hasn’t been many times this season where I’ve thought we’ve got away with a performance or been slightly lucky.

‘I thought Bolton probably deserved to win the game and I don’t think I’ve felt that for many games at all. If anything it’s been the opposite.

‘Even when we’ve lost games like Chelteham and Bristol Rovers, I thought we were the better side on both occasions.

‘The two games at home I felt we deserved to lose, absolutely, but apart from that I think the results have been about there or thereabouts.

‘There’s been a few draws where we were the aggressor trying to win the game. That was something we did at the weekend, with two centre-forwards on after 55 minutes.

‘So we maybe we got slightly lucky, but we’ve probably deserved that over the course of the season and ultimately we’ve defended well, kept the ball out of the back of the net and could’ve even nicked it at the other end.’