Portsmouth promotion could be made even better by Southampton development: View | OneFootball

Portsmouth continue to trample over whatever is out before them in this League One campaign, with John Mousinho’s side on track for a return to the Championship for the first time since 2012.

Pompey have been in imperious form this campaign, with last weekend’s 1-0 victory over Peterborough United making it a nine-point gap between themselves and Bolton Wanderers in third spot.

That leaves the 2008 FA Cup winners needing just ten points to guarantee promotion back to the second tier, and they will be buoyed by the fact they might be meeting familiar foes on their return.

Portsmouth and Southampton could be set for reunion

That’s because Pompey’s south coast rivals Southampton have faltered of late, meaning Russell Martin’s side have it all to do if they are to earn automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

A run of three defeats in four league matches at the end of February has cut Saints’ chance of finishing in the top two, with Leicester City currently nine points better off in second spot, although they have played an extra game than the St Mary’s side.

That may mean Martin will have to rally his troops for the play-offs when the season comes to an end, and with one of the leading trio of Leicester City, Leeds United, or Ipswich Town having to settle for the end of season lottery, as well as two disruptors from the chasing pack, it will be a tough task to navigate.

Watching all this develop at their not-so-friendly neighbours is only like to spur Pompey on to get the job done in their respective division, with a number of tough encounters on the horizon if they are going to achieve promotion.

After dispatching of Posh, Mousinho now has to rally his troops again for clashes with second-placed Derby County on the Tuesday after Easter, as well as facing promotion-chasing Bolton Wanderers and Barnsley in the space of four days in April.

Although they can afford the odd slip up or two before the end of the season, Mousinho will want to keep momentum going at Fratton Park and claim a league title in his first full season in management.

The current boss joined the club from Oxford United last January to take his first managerial role, and he has since proved himself to be one of the most promising young managers in the country during his 14-month spell on the south coast.

With just four league defeats to their name this season, Mousinho has made Pompey something of a winning machine, with results ground out under all manner of circumstances; something so often said of title-winning sides.

Portsmouth vs Southampton past meetings

If they are to meet in the league next season, it will be the first time the two clubs have met since a League Cup draw in 2019 [pictured below], where then-Premier League Southampton dispatched their neighbours 4-0 with relative ease.

You have to go all the way back to the 2011/12 season for the last league meetings between the pair, with both fixtures ending all square; with Billy Sharp’s double being cancelled out by Chris Maguire and David Norris at St Mary’s while Joel Ward and Ricky Lambert found the net in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park.

It is Saints who hold the advantage historically in what is so often a fractious affair, with 35 victories to Pompey’s 21, while 15 meetings have ended in a draw.

If Southampton fail in their efforts to return to the Premier League, both sides will be looking forward to reigniting hostilities next season if Pompey reach the Championship, with local bragging rights at stake once again.

It has been far too long since these two went to battle on an even playing field, a wait which has whetted the appetite for a reunion of the two south coast rivals, who went toe-to-toe for two seasons in the Premier League in the early noughties, making for some fiery encounters.

There are more than likely some old scores still to be settled, and new heroes to be made once these two face-off once again, and Pompey will be rubbing their hands at the thought of rubbing shoulders with the boys next door next season.

To experience such joy of winning a championship, and couple that with the failure of your nearest rivals is exactly what every football fan dreams of; there won't be a single Pompey fan in the land who would wish Southampton well if their playoff campaign was successful in May.

What they want is the chance to wrong some rights, they have been banished in the lower divisions for far too long as they've watched those in red and white along the coast maraude their way into the Premier League until this season, and they'd do anything for their return to the top tier to be delayed for at least another year.

Mousinho won't be counting his chickens just yet though; there are plenty of tricky fixtures to overcome first, but there could be cause for a double celebration in Portsmouth over the summer, and Pompey fans will have an eye on both sides of Solent for very different reasons.