BRAVE, spirited, energetic, the press pack were poised with a pad-full of adjectives to describe Wanderers’ last-gasp win at Fratton Park — and Gary Megson had one more.

“We we’re all that,” he said. “But you missed one — there was some rubbish as well,” he smirked.

Ever the pragmatist, the Whites boss knows his side will play better and lose some games this season.

But this was an occasion where performance very much played second fiddle to the end result, and in that respect, Megson could barely hide his delight.

“We didn’t play champagne football for 90 minutes by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “There were two teams that looked quite nervous, and that’s quite understandable because both clubs had no points.

“We took the lead and only managed to hang on to it once but it was purely and simply about getting a result — even to the extent where if we didn’t get three points, it was vital we came away with something.

“Over 90 minutes we have had a lot of possession, and when I think of the chances Matt Taylor, Gary Cahill, Kevin Davies and Tamir Cohen had, it’s something that has to get better. It will always be tenuous unless we take a greater percentage of the chances we create.”

Megson reckons he did not feel the need to build up the occasion before kick-off to his players in the dressing room, as the importance of the game had been etched on their faces from the moment the team coach pulled up at Fratton Park.

The ramshackle old ground has rarely been kind to Wanderers in the past, yet this side side seems to be more at home when, to use a phrase from the manager himself, “the wagons are circled”.

“You had to be in the situation they were,” he said. “The nerves were bound to be there for both sets of players.

“Portsmouth have that support here that is absolutely incredible; they absolutely rock the place.

“We had to cope with that, and cope with it we did, but the over-riding thing was to come here and get something.

“People might look and say it was a bit fortunate but if they look right the way through the game at the quality of chances created by both teams, we have had the lion’s share of the better ones.

“I said to the players that it was a great result. There was some rubbish but you can fully expect that.

“We need to keep the ball a lot better than we did. Our passing was so sloppy at times it was untrue.

“We have also got to have the confidence and the ability that I know the players have got.

“Sometimes I get the impression that the players are better than they actually think they are.

“What we have got to do is take away from this game some of the good things and improve a lot on the things we didn’t do so well.”

Megson also revealed he had to close his eyes as Matt Taylor stepped up to take a penalty just before the break.

The former Portmsouth player had looked nervous in the opening exchanges but kept his nerve to give Wanderers the lead for the second time in the game.

“I did have worries,” the manager said. “The last penalty Matt took was at Reading over 18 months ago and he missed.

“He’d had a fantastic chance just before it and missed that, and had other opportunities in the game and sometimes when he comes down here he puts himself under so much pressure to do well he becomes anxious.

“I have got to give the lad credit, not only for having scored but for having the courage to step up against what is probably England’s best goalkeeper and tuck it away because he was getting a little bit of stick from the people who used to follow him for a long time. That takes a lot of bottle.”