STEVE WIGLEY was in defiant mood after his Saints side restored some much needed pride with a 2-1 win in the south coast derby against Portsmouth at St Mary's today.

There was huge pressure on Wigley and the team going into the game after days of speculation that the head coach could lose his job after only a couple of months in charge if he didn't get his first Premier League win as Saints boss today.

When Saints fell behind to an Andreas Jakobsson own goal on 12 minutes things didn't look good, but Dexter Blackstock equalised after six minutes later before Kevin Phillips came off the bench to head home the winner in the second half.

Wigley was in positive mood after the win and backed himself to still be in charge at the end of the season.

He said: "I've spoken to the chairman a couple of times this week and I've never felt it's been as much of a problem as some people were saying.

"We'll never know what might have happened after today but he's given me great support over the past couple of weeks.

"I believe I'll be here at the end of the season and if I am we will have done well."

Speaking of the game he added: "It was a mixture of relief and pleasure at the end because nobody wanted it to go on any longer, although I thought we were worth the win.

"I said today wasn't about me but about my players and thankfully they delivered.

"It's the first step to a little bit of respectability and now we need to move up the league."

Pompey boss Harry Redknapp said: "Once we got in to the lead their confidence would have drained but we conceded too quickly then we lost it to a free header. It was basic, simple defending."

FOR THE BEST COVERAGE OF THE SOUTHAMPTON V PORTSMOUTH DERBY WITH COMPREHENSIVE MATCH REPORTS, PICTURES AND ANALYSIS SEE TONIGHT'S PINK AND MONDAY'S DAILY ECHO.