John Mousinho liked what he saw as Pompey claimed a well-deserved point from rheir visit to Derby.

Callum Lang's goal at the end of a lightning-fast move from the back gave the Blues an early lead before the Rams levelled moments before half-time. Pompey had to dig in during the second half but were not unduly troubled by the hosts.

It meant a haul of four points from the past two for the Blues ahead of Christmas week home matches with QPR on December 26 and Charlton on December 29.

Mousinho tolf the Pompey website: 'It was a good performance overall, although we were hanging on a bit during the final 10 minutes or so. We were well worth a point and on another day, based on how we played, we could have come away with more.

'It was brilliant composure from Langy and a really calm finish for our goal after being found by Josh Murphy. It’s a distinct area of the game we’ve been working hard on and with the guys we have in the side, we’ve been trying to play a bit more.

'You’ve got to be brave and take the rough with the smooth because there were moments when we looked a bit vulnerable. We’re asking the boys not to keep the ball relentlessly at the back, but to play forward with real purpose and they did that well.

'I thought Hayden dealt well with the challenge of coming up against a multi-million-pound centre-forward who’s lighting up the league, while Regan Poole was exceptional next to him.

'We’ve shown promising signs this season and a lot of the time it’s been really tight, so we’ve been looking for a bit more belief and composure on the ball.'

Pompey do have a few injury concerns ahead of Boxing Day.

Zak Swanson was ill and Ibane Bowat turned his ankle in training in midweek, while Murphy cmae off at Derby because he was feeling his hamstring.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters