NIGEL Quashie believes it will not just be Crystal Palace looking over their shoulders following Saints' 1-0 win over Tottenham.

The midfielder headed home the winner to open his Saints account and close the gap at the bottom of the table.

Saints are now just two points adrift of Palace and only six points behind Quashie's former club Pompey.

And the men from Fratton Park will have been further concerned by wins yesterday for strugglers Blackburn and West Brom.

Quashie said: "Other teams above us will be looking over their shoulders now and the most important thing is that we keep picking up points. Given the way that we are playing at the moment, we will keep doing that.

"Portsmouth have lost eight out of ten now and that is not good going.

"Obviously they are playing against good opposition but we have been playing against good opposition as well and picked up some results.

"We've got the ability and players to come through this.

"Other teams will be looking over their shoulders, though I'm not saying they will get dragged into it.

"The main thing is to pick up points and the way we are playing we will do that. And it is not just Portsmouth - there will be other teams just ahead of us getting a little bit nervous as well."

Quashie was again excellent alongside Jamie Redknapp in the centre of Saints' midfield and praised the spirit within the camp.

"Ever since I've come here the spirit has been magnificent," he said. "The lads have stuck together. The last five games we have been excellent.

"Things are looking good, but we just have to keep plugging results out. Saturday was a great opportunity to close the gap and we took it.

"We have definitely got the players and the ability to come through this."