Miron Muslic drops Plymouth Argyle "curse" claim after Portsmouth FC | OneFootball

The Pilgrims ran out 2-1 winners at Fratton Park on Wednesday evening, bringing to an end their torrid run on the road.

Miron Muslic has praised his Plymouth Argyle side following their first league away win of the season against Portsmouth on Wednesday evening, calling his side's form on the road a "curse".

The Pilgrims had not won on their travels in the Championship since they beat Rotherham United 1-0 at the end of last season, bringing an end to a run of 20 straight games in the second tier without a win outside of Devon.

Mustahpha Bundu opened the scoring at Fratton Park just before half-time, before Ryan Hardie doubled the visitors' lead only four minutes after the break. Matthew Sorinola's 86th-minute red card handed Pompey a way back into the game, and Adil Aouchiche halved the deficit just moments later. However, Muslic's side were able to hold on for a momentous victory.

The three points mean that Plymouth have not been cut adrift at the bottom of the Championship table, and they can leapfrog both Luton Town and Derby County on Saturday, when they welcome the Rams to Home Park.

Miron Muslic praises Plymouth Argyle team for ending barren away run

Argyle still sit at the bottom of the table by a point, but they have finally broken a run that some may have thought was never going to end, and they have done so in a week that has seen those around them pick up victories.

The Devonshire outfit were forced to soak up a lot of pressure at Fratton Park as Portsmouth looked for a way back into the game, and despite conceding late on, they continued to hold on for a well-earned win.

Plymouth have had success away from home in the cup, having beaten Premier League side Brentford 1-0 in January, but Wednesday's three points could be worth a lot more to the club than their FA Cup progression.

Speaking after the game, Muslic praised his team for their performance and urged them to make the most of their final four matches on the road.

He said: "It felt almost like a curse because if you can't win for such a long time and it's football, you play so many games, it's heavy and it takes a lot of energy out of the team, but finally we could turn this trend and reward ourselves.

"In the past we had good away performances, we were very close to beating Sunderland, and finally we could turn this into something very positive."

Muslic concluded: "From now on if we go away we have a chance to win and this is a good sign. We started tonight and we have to just continue and then everything is possible."

Saturday is vital to Plymouth Argyle's survival chances

While the atmosphere in the squad will be extremely positive after Wednesday, Plymouth now need to back up their win over Portsmouth with three more points against Derby at the weekend.

The Rams have gone through a revival in the last week, picking up six points in two games at home to play-off hopefuls Blackburn Rovers and Coventry City.

John Eustace looks to have finally got a tune out of his players, and Muslic cannot afford to allow a rival to pick up three successive wins and build a gap with matches starting to run out quickly for those at the bottom.

Home Park needs to be a cauldron on Saturday, and a repeat of some of the performances on their own patch from earlier in the season will be needed to give Plymouth a strong chance of taking back-to-back victories for the first time this season.