Portsmouth boss Mousinho wary of 'outstanding' Cobblers

The Pompey boss has been impressed by what he has seen from Jon Brady's side following their promotion from league two last season.

Town will travel to the south coast sitting in ninth place in the league one table, having lost just three of their past 13 league games, although one of those was a comprehensive 3-0 win for Pompey at Sixfields in December.

That was a day where the Cobblers were nowhere near their best, and a wary Mousinho is warning his players, and the Pompey faithful, they will face a 'tough test' against a Town side he rates highly.

“They’re a very different side to the one we faced a few weeks ago and they went on a pretty good run after that," said the Pompey boss.

“I know they lost on Saturday, although that was perhaps down to the circumstances of Shrewsbury having a new manager.

“Outside of those sides fighting for a top six spot, they’re probably one of the outstanding teams in this league.

“Jon Brady and his players have done well after coming up last season, so we’re certainly expecting another tough test.”

Pompey currently sit top of the league one table, but they have been on an indifferent run of form and closest rivals Bolton Wanderers and Peterborough United could overhaul them if they win their games in hand.

They have won only three of their past nine league one outings, and in that run they were well beaten 3-0 at home by Leyton Orient and also drew 2-2 at home against Oxford United on Tuesday.

So Mousinho has been busy strengthening his squad for their title tilt by making five signings in the January transfer window, bringing in Myles Peart-Harris, Matt Macey, Callum Lang, Tom McIntyre and Owen Moxon, who signed from Carlisle United on deadline day.

The Pompey boss is delighted with his recruitment work, and said: “We’ve done a fair bit of business, so we weren’t expecting a hugely frantic deadline day.

“After getting the Oxford game out of the way, my focus was more on preparations for facing Northampton.

“I’m really pleased with the squad and we’ve already seen the impact that some of the new players have had.

“Myles has done ever so well and Callum got the goal on his debut, so that shows the strength we have.

“We think it’s been a really positive window for us and we’ve achieved everything that we set out to do.

“Owen was one of the outstanding players in League Two last season when Carlisle were promoted and someone that everyone had their eye on going into this campaign.

"I’m really pleased with the squad and we’ve already seen the impact that some of the new players have had."