Guy Whittingham paid tribute to his Pompey side’s commitment after they grabbed a gritty point at Preston.
The caretaker Blues boss admitted that his side struggled to find their passing rhythm in the 1-1 draw at Deepdale.
But he took pleasure in the fact that the Blues are now so much harder to beat as Jed Wallace’s early strike was enough for a point.
Whittingham said: ‘We weren’t at our best but we have to be happy with a point after the game.
‘I thought we dug in when we had to do that and Preston put us under a lot of pressure at times.
‘But it shows how far we’ve come and that we are prepared to put our foot in, put our head in there and make tackles when we have to do that to play that way.
‘We’d love to be able to play good football every time we play, but sometimes you have to grind it out and take what you can.’