Anderson confident Portsmouth will escape the drop

Keshi Anderson insists Pompey will stay in the Championship this season and is targeting a higher finish than last season.

The winger moved to Fratton Park after his two-and-a-half-year stay at Birmingham was ended by a "30-second phone call".

Anderson made his debut off the bench in the 1-1 draw with Southampton on Sunday. The 30-year-old made just eight starts in all competitions for Blues this season after appearing 37 times as they won League One at a canter last season.

"There were a few options, Portsmouth was the one that was first in my head because the gaffer made it very apparent how much he wanted me," Anderson told BBC Radio Solent.

"Coming into a team where you know you have that kind of love and respect and the want for you makes it so much easier and comfortable to make that decision."

Anderson revealed he had not necessarily been expecting to leave Birmingham this month and added: "It was a 30 second phone call - it sometimes happens in football, it can be a brutal sport.

"To end in the way it did wasn't nice but I wish the boys all the best."

Anderson has been impressed by the intensity at Pompey in training and matches and said they want to extend their one-point advantage over the Championship relegation zone to secure safety in the final 19 games.

"We've got a good team," he said. "Last year they finished 16th, this year from what I gathered the aim is to do better, finish higher and progress.

"We will stay up. The team we have it would be criminal to not [with] the quality I have seen and the intensity in which we do things.

"The main thing is keeping everyone fit and healthy, the squad is very good and we can definitely improve on the league position from last year."

West Brom, one place and two points above Pompey visit Fratton Park on Saturday (15:00 GMT) and Anderson said: "We've had two good draws that we would have liked to have been wins.

"We're searching for that win as a group and we go into the game hungry for that win to hopefully get that momentum going and hopefully go one, two, three four in a row - that's what you need in the Championship, you need to put runs together."