Owls win must be a catalyst for Pompey

There was only ever going to be one acceptable outcome from Saturday afternoon - win at all costs. Thankfully, that's exactly what we got.

The 161-day wait for an away win since Oxford on the opening day wore heavy on the pre-match faces of all 1,500 Pompey fans who'd travelled to Hillsborough.

You could really feel that the pressure was on, and other than freshly faced Millenic Alli, there was very little to talk about at the half-time interval. It was an incredibly low quality opening 45 and, quite frankly, a pretty poor excuse for a game of football between two struggling sides.

After the break, Pompey were much better but could've hardly been worse. Ebou Adams' introduction was incredibly welcome to the travelling faithful. For me, Pompey looked a noticeably better outfit once he was on the pitch.

The goal itself was actually quite the spectacle - Conor Shaughnessy's self-bestowed licence to progress forward followed by a wicked Alli cross, met by the arriving Adrian Segecic behind Colby Bishop.

Charlton's last-minute mayhem aside, I can hardly think of a game this season in which I've wanted us to score more than at Hillsborough on Saturday, nor can I think of a goal that we've celebrated more.

There was a genuine feeling that if Pompey were to lose this game, that would probably be us down. With that in mind, it's a seismic victory which once again drags us a notch outside the relegation zone.

What is perhaps most imperative is we cannot now go another 161 days for a victory on our travels. Pompey's away form must improve as of now and Saturday has got to be the catalyst.

Performance-wise we will have to be so much better and there is still such a sizeable road ahead.

Six more wins and Pompey will live to fight another season of Championship football.

Find more from Tom at the Fournilwrittenalloverit, external YouTube channel