Portsmouth boss fires warning to Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, Oxford United & Co after sturdy start to campaign

And the Blues boss told of the anticipation he’s feeling, as his side look towards a testing run of games in September.

Mousinho’s side have accumulated 12 points from the first six League One fixtures, with the campaign now firmly up and running.

On paper it looked a presentable start to the season for Pompey, though both Stevenage and Exeter City have been tackled - with both sides performing above expectations at this formative stage of proceedings.

September was viewed as a tougher month, however, with a testing trip to Derby the next challenge after the international break.

Then it’s the rearranged trek to Oakwell to take on Barnsley, in the fixture postponed for international call-ups.

Pompey return to Fratton Park for the visit of Lincoln on September 23 - before another challenging away day at Wigan to close out the month.

Mousinho is acutely aware the tests for his side get ramped up over the coming weeks, but is relishing that challenge.

And the 37-year-old is clear that there is still a lot of improvement to come from his team in the coming months, as they take on the challenge of delivering promotion.

Mousinho said: ‘September is a really exciting month in terms of fixtures and some of the teams we have to play.

‘We want to test ourselves against the best sides in the league - and that’s what we consider these teams to be.

‘Even in August we played not necessarily the bigger clubs, but some of the teams who will be competitive certainty in the top half of the table.

‘One of the features we’re seeing so far in the league is there are a lot of sides who are very competitive.

‘Just a couple of the results we’ve seen so far spring to mind.

‘So yes it’s going to be a tough league and we want to look to do a bit better and improve, but we feel there is a huge amount of improvement to come - and we’re still in an alright position.’