Funny what one result can do for your season.
Even if Pompey don't build on the success at Goodison this weekend and instead lose our next few games, we still seem to have reversed what the written media think about us in the space of one glorious Saturday. Alright, so not everyone was won over - Match Of The Day on the BBC, Goals On Sunday on Sky Sports One, 606 on Radio Five and suchlike all preferred to focus on Everton's shortcomings rather than risk giving us any credit - but the papers have certainly had a noticeable change of heart.
Flashback a week and already the rumours were starting to spread. Whispers in darkened rooms suggested that with only one point from four games Alain Perrin could expect his P45 in the post within a matter of weeks. The players were supposedly queuing up to get into Milan's office and whinge about why they didn't like his training methods, forcing the chairman's hand into questioning the position of the manager. Supposedly. Pompey were a side in disarray, heading towards The Championship (despite the fact that we really haven't played that badly at times this season and have just lacked a goalscorer).
But now today's papers make very good reading. Some of my favourite quotes, if I may.
Sunday Times
"Portsmouth were better in every department and with more composure could have won more easily to add to the discomfort of an Everton team for whom the achievements of last season are rapidly becoming a fading memory."
The Observer
"Having survived that Everton flurry, Portsmouth again began to exert control, a period of pressure leading to a goal on the hour which came as no great surprise... Man of the match: Gary O'Neil - impressive inspiration and energy"
The Telegraph
"They combined cleverly to outmanoeuvre an Everton side that confounded predictions of their demise last season yet might find reality harder to bear this time... Everton were fortunate to survive a first half that should have rendered the second academic. Portsmouth's mobility and imagination mesmerised Everton's static players. The crispness of their passing matched their movement and they created openings with ominous ease. The ever-dependable Nigel Martyn, some fortuitous blocks and the quivering crossbar frustrated Portsmouth's exhilarating play. They will, however, have drawn enormous encouragement from the quality and assurance of their football and were ultimately rewarded."
If I had written those sort of things in a post-match review, I would no doubt have been on the receiving end of e-mails telling me I was building things up too much and being too nice about our play! But yet these come from the neutrals that have previously been knocking us at every available opportunity. Hell, even Everton websites have been carrying headlines such as "Adventurous Pompey Get Their Just Rewards".
But the best part of all? Today's "Sunday People", which carries the sensational story that Alain Perrin is set to be sacked and replaced by Kevin Blackwell. Old habits die hard.