Danny Cowley delivers honest verdict on Portsmouth’s play-off hopes

Portsmouth head coach Danny Cowley has admitted that he believes that there shouldn’t be any talk of his side finishing in the play-offs later this season despite their recent upturn in form.

Pompey managed to back up their recent victories over Doncaster Rovers, Shrewsbury Town and Oxford United by securing all three points in their showdown with Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

Pompey produced an impressive performance against John Coleman’s side as they proved to be too good for their opponents in this fixture.

George Hirst opened the scoring for Portsmouth in the 16th minute before his team-mate Marcus Harness was shown a red card for a challenge on Ross Sykes.

Undeterred by this dismissal, Pompey doubled their advantage via a header from Sean Raggett.

Following the break, Hirst netted his second goal of the afternoon whilst Ryan Tunnicliffe added some gloss to the score line in the 69th minute.

As a result of this 4-0 victory, Portsmouth closed the gap between them and the play-off places to seven points.

Set to face Crewe Alexandra tomorrow, Pompey could edge closer to the top-six if they beat David Artell’s side in this fixture.

Ahead of this fixture, Cowley has delivered a verdict on his side’s chances of extending their season past the 46 game mark in May.

Speaking to The News, Cowley said: “I don’t think we should be (talking about the play-offs).

“We’ve got such a small squad and tough away games now, with the games coming thick and fast.

“We lose Marcus and we get Ronan [Curtis] back, but it’s a huge challenge.

“When you’re Portsmouth and you’re a great club with tradition and steeped in history with this support base, it’s hard to create the underdog narrative – but it feels like we’re the underdogs and