Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho praised his players for their reaction to a painful derby defeat after watching them win 1-0 at Norwich.

Since losing 1-0 at bitter rivals Southampton last Sunday, Pompey have bounced back in spirited fashion, following a midweek success against Sheffield United with a hard-fought victory at Carrow Road.

Mousinho said: “I know the fans felt devastated after the derby defeat, and it was the same with the players and staff.

“I didn’t want the players to forget the pain after that. I wanted them to feel it when they came back into training, use it in a positive way, to come back in midweek and get a result.

“They did that against Sheffield United and now they have come here and done it again. All credit to the players, they have done it themselves and I thought we deserved to win.

“We were excellent in the first half, playing a lot of good football up to the Norwich area, although I can’t remember us testing their keeper.

“It was the same at the start of the second half, and our energy and counter-press got its reward when we won the penalty. After that all the squad did a good job to see the game out.

“I was really pleased with the way everyone went about their business and believe there is even more to come from this group of players, especially when we have a few more back from injury.”

After a low-key first half, Portsmouth grabbed what proved to be the winning goal six minutes after the restart.

The visitors were awarded a penalty when Jacob Wright clipped Abu Kamara in the area and Serbian striker Marezi converted emphatically from the spot.

Norwich belatedly raised their game after that setback and were unlucky not to take a point from what was a scrappy game, with Pelle Mattsson seeing his low drive come back off the inside of the post, with goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid well beaten.

Norwich head coach Philippe Clement had no complaints with his side’s effort – but felt they sometimes failed to see the bigger picture on the pitch.

“I am very disappointed, very frustrated”, he said. “I saw a lot of passion out there, a lot of effort, but not enough overview.

“We had some good possession but at important moments we would make the wrong pass, or try a shot from 30 yards. It’s about getting the balance right between their hearts and their brains.

“I understand the frustration of our fans with our results (eight defeats in 11 league games) and all I can say is that I will work even harder than I did last season to turn it around.

“We have the quality in the squad to do that and we need to go out on the pitch and change things. You can’t change anything with words.”