Pompey have not experienced much midweek joy on the road this season.
Their previous Tuesday night away fixtures in the league have resulted in defeats to Northampton, Doncaster and Peterborough.
So fans making the longest journey of the campaign to Fleetwood could perhaps be forgiven for a lack of confidence.
But they were treated to an assured performance at Highbury Stadium, as goals from Jamal Lowe and Oli Hawkins secured a 2-1 victory.
And the latter felt it was an impressive display by a youthful Blues side with an average age of under 23.
Hawkins: “It was a tough place to come and the injuries we’ve got at the moment means we had a very young squad.
"You look at these Tuesday night games up north and know that you’re going to be in for a real battle."
“But all the boys put in a shift and we’ve come away with the win, so we have to be really pleased with that. The boys are buzzing.
“You look at these Tuesday night games up north and know that you’re going to be in for a real battle throughout.
“Fleetwood got on the ball well in the early stages, but we scored on the break and it was a great finish from Jamal.
“He’d got a couple of assists for me already this season and very dangerous down the right because there’s so much pace and power.
“I was lucky that his cross got deflected into my path and so all I had to do then was tap it into the net.
“It was tough coming up against three big defenders, but I tried my hardest and we got our reward for that.”
Pompey have several senior squad members in the treatment room, but Hawkins knows they cannot use that as an excuse.
He said: “We’ve got some key players missing, but the rest of the boys just have to focus on the next few weeks ahead.
“Everyone’s got to do their best to get more positive results and keep us right in that push for the play-offs. We’re capable of doing that.”