Plus, of course, Colby Bishop’s penalty in the League One title-winning clash against Barnsley on an emotional Fratton Park evening.
John Mousinho’s substitutions played a crucial part in last season’s memorable promotion – now he’s finally convinced he now possesses that crucial strength in depth to repeat the trick in the Championship.
Mark O’Mahony’s classy finish during the fifth minute of time added-on sealed a first Blues away victory in four months. His contribution also arrived from the bench, having replaced Bishop earlier in the 2-0 triumph at the Kassam Stadium.
The strength of Mousinho’s squad in the Championship has rightly been questioned, with the head coach rarely using his full quota of five substitutions as a consequence.
Yet that has all changed since the January transfer window, with Pompey’s boss relishing having more tactical options.
He told The News: ‘The substitutions have been a bit more difficult for various reasons.
‘First of all is the step up in the level, a lot of the substitutions we made last year were probably when we were naturally in the ascendancy because of the way we played. You can make subs and they tend to have a bit more of an impact.
‘We’ve seen that on the reverse side this year. Some of the opposition we’ve played against are bringing on four or five substitutions and you think “That’s a really, really strong bench”. I’m sure sides playing against us would have said that last year.
‘I feel we’re now in a much better position when we select those nine substitutes and I’m thinking “Okay, any one of them can make an impact”.
‘Against Cardiff, we made five substitutions. I genuinely looked around at every single point, apart from Nico, and thought all of those players could definitely make a difference coming into that game.
‘We consider every single one of them.’
Yengi, in particular, revelled as a substitute last season, netting four times.
In addition to Moxon and Bishop’s moments off the bench, others include Callum Lang on his debut at Oxford in January 2024 and Paddy Lane in the 2-1 Boxing Day defeat at Bristol Rovers.
Overall, eight goals were delivered by substitutes in the Blues’ promotion season, along with many game-altering entrances.
That’s compared to three so far this season – Bishop (Preston), Thomas Waddingham (West Brom) and O’Mahony – although, noticeably, Mousinho has introduced five substitutions in his last two matches.
Coincidentally, they produced successive victories over Cardiff and Oxford, lifting Pompey into 18th spot in the Championship.
Mousinho added: ‘It depends on the state of the game as well. Sometimes physically, because of everything we are putting in, we need reinforcements.
‘It gets to the 70th minute and players are still going, they’re going strong, so we don’t really need to make a change, we don’t really want to make a change, we still have the physicality and are dominating.
‘On other occasions, it feels like the right thing to do.’
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