Pompey played some lovely football on the way to successive home victories over Cheltenham and Bolton.
But they had to showcase a different side of their game to collect all three points at struggling Cambridge.
After a poor first half, the deadlock was broken when Colby Bishop rose to meet Owen Dale’s cross and head home his 18th goal of the season.
And although he admitted it was not always pretty, John Mousinho was delighted with how his side battled their way to another positive result.
The Blues boss said: “We ground out the win – that’s the best way to sum it up. But these are the important results.
“We weren’t great in the first half and although we controlled possession and got into some good areas, we didn’t create anything.
“Cambridge pressed us differently to what we were expecting and once we got on the ball, we needed to be more patient and less sloppy.
"We ground out the win – that’s the best way to sum it up. But these are the important results."
“But we were much better after the break and started to have chances, finding a lot of joy down the right-hand side.
“Again we weren’t as clinical as I would like in the final third, although sometimes you just have to get over the line.
“I thought Colby was getting mauled by the centre-half and we had a decent penalty shout. He gives us that physicality, while also popping up with those moments of magic.
“The fans also seemed to like seeing Tom Lowery back again – I heard that song for about half-an-hour! They know what he brings to the side and he brought a bit of composure.”
It was not all good news for Pompey, however, with Mousinho providing a diappointing update on Ronan Curtis.
He said: “Unfortunately, we got the results of a scan on Friday afternoon and it’s quite a severe knee injury.
“He’s torn his ACL and it’s incredibly bad news, with everyone really shocked. We’ll see how the dust settles and go from there.
“I’ve been in his shoes and so I’m absolutely gutted for him – it’s a real blow. He’s a massive miss for the team, but he’s still very young and I know he’ll come back strongly.”