If the sign of a good team is winning even when you are playing badly then Graham Rix has every reason to be very excited.

Defeating Gillingham 2-1 at Fratton Park with an injury time winner has lifted Pompey to the dizzy heights of seventh in the table and has led some optimistic fans to dream of play-offs and promotion.

Of course, there is a long way to go yet and they will have to play much better than this, but if they can eke out these kind of results then Portsmouth might just be there or thereabouts come May.

"I knew it was going to be a tough game for us," said Rix. "They defended deeply, and despite us not playing as well as we can we scored in the last seconds. I think we deserved it.

"I think last year we would have probably lost that game but there is belief in the squad. We have got lads who given half a chance will knock it in the net.

"Before the game 1-1 would not have been a disgrace.

"We have ground out a result and that should give the boys even more confidence."

At times it would only be fair to say that Pompey looked lacklustre against a hard-working but decidedly ordinary Gillingham side.

As per usual in this division, Gillingham were busy, they hustled and harried the Portsmouth players into some pretty sloppy passing but all the quality and class came from the home team.

It was no surprise when the Gills took a 33rd minute lead after a neat move involving Paul Smith and Marlon King allowed the ever-threatening Iffy Onuora to side foot home from close range, leaving debut keeper Sasa Ilic no chance.

More shocking was the immaculate Robert Prosinecki having a penalty saved by the outstanding Vince Bartram. He is human after all.

Pompey bucked up their ideas in the second half and caused many more problems to the Gills defence. Prosinecki's 58th minute free-kick shot across the penalty area and found Neil Barrett at the far post to head home his first senior goal.

There were similar celebrations for Alessandro Zamperini who bundled home the injury time winner after a melee from a corner.

Barrett's goal was fitting reward for a sterling midfield performance by the youngster bought from Chelsea in the summer, though he admitted: "It was all a bit of a surprise. It is hard to describe. You don't know what you are doing. It was a relief at the time because we knew we needed a goal."

One thing is for sure, Portsmouth will lose more than win if they play like this every week, but this performance confirms they are made of sterner stuff than people expected.