Gaffer salutes south-coast win over promotion contenders.
Darren Ferguson was more concerned with sending a message to his players, rather than the rest of Sky Bet League Two, following a 2-1 win over Portsmouth.
Having watched his side move in to second in the table in front of nearly 17,000 fans at Fratton Park, the Scot was asked what message the victory sent to the rest of the league.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“I think it might send a message to my players, that’s the most important thing.
“First of all, it’s a good result. That’s the most important thing. It’s been a tough week for us, a hard week, we knew it would be. We’ve finished it off with three points and a good win.
“We knew we'd be up against a strong team, I think that's their first defeat at home (this season). Again, I think we could have made it a lot more comfortable than how it ended up - through our decision making - but our two strikers got a goal each, it's a fantastic win.”
Ferguson said he would be “surprised” if Pompey – managed by Paul Cook – weren’t serious contenders for promotion come the season end, but insisted his team is a good one too.
“We rode our luck a little bit at times when it was 2-1 but I think we deserved a little bit of luck, I think we've been due it actually,” he said.
“I think the morale is good and we need to sometimes remember that we're quite a good team ourselves and that's important. It’s about winning games and we've won against a good team that will be up there; they've got a good manager and some very good players and I’d be surprised if they weren’t.
“To come here and get a win is a vital win because now we've played them and Luton away and I’ve still got six or seven players out injured - people forget that - and the lads that have been playing week in week out deserve an enormous amount of credit because I don’t know of any other team in the league with the injuries that we've had and we've managed to cope.”