First-half goals from Ethan Galbraith and Josh Key proved enough for victory on the south coast, with Swansea missing chances to extend their advantage before forward Jacob Brown pulled a goal back for the hosts in the second period.
But the Swans, who have been in spectacular form on their ground since Matos took charge, held on relatively comfortably to claim only a fifth away win this season.
Away form had been thwarting Swansea’s hopes of promotion, with nine defeats in the last 11 on the road, but Matos believes his side are getting the rewards for the improvements made on the training pitch that have been implemented in matches in recent weeks.
“I think we had good performances away from home, but we didn’t get the points from the performances,” said Matos post-match.
“We needed to improve a few things to keep winning games away. That’s what we have been trying.
“It is not an easy place to come. Portsmouth have a lot of weapons, especially in terms of set-pieces, long balls, crosses ad we knew that.
“Being able to put pressure on and control the space in behind is not easy, so towards the end, the fatigue comes a little bit.
“I think the bench was really important for that – they came on and helped the team keep concentration.
“The mentality, though, was there, the resilience was there, the organisation was there, then of course the performance as well. I am really happy for the team club, for the club, and for the fans.
“Sometimes you need to win with more than controlling the ball, with controlling the space, and I think we did that today.”
With eyes turning to Friday night’s key match-up with Wrexham at the STōK Cae Ras stadium, the Swans find themselves just five points off the team sitting in sixth-place.
Victory against Phil Parkinson’s side would reduce the gap to two, albeit with the North Walians having a game in hand, and would ignite an unlikely late play-off charge.
Matos, however, is keen as ever to focus on one game at a time.
“What we need to think about is what we can do to win the game,” continued the Swans boss.
“It will be a really hard game as we all know – quite emotional as well.
“First we need to see what we can improve from today [at Portsmouth] to have more consistency and [then] analyse Wrexham. It’s more about recovery, mindset and going there to compete.”
[Lead image: Swansea City FC]
