Key Portsmouth figure sends message to clubs involved in League One play-off race

Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley has insisted that his side are not giving up on reaching League One’s play-offs this season despite a setback against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday afternoon.

Pompey realistically needed a victory against Gareth Ainsworth’s side to keep tabs on the rest of the teams battling for the top six in the third tier.

In reality though, Cowley’s team struggled for creativity at Fratton Park and were restricted to just five shots – one of them being on target.

Wycombe meanwhile had 15 attempts with four on target but neither goalkeeper had to pick the ball out of the back of their net, however what that meant for Pompey is that they are still eight points behind Sunderland, who sit in sixth position, and 10 points behind Oxford in fifth.

Portsmouth do have a game in-hand on some of their rivals and have eight matches left to contest, and Cowley believes that the points gap is an achievable one to make up and feels that anyone writing his team off are being premature.

“We’re going to the end (in the play-off battle),” Cowley said, per The News.

“We’ve had a long run of games with a very small squad and that’s just the facts.

“But it (the break) will give us a chance to freshen up physically and mentally, particularly after three away games, which are never easy.

“For us, we’ll get a good week on the grass, we haven’t been on the grass really because of the games coming so often.

“We’re a pretty new group, so we’ll be able to do some good work and hopefully finish the season strong.”

The Verdict

It looks a steep task for Portsmouth to make the play-offs now – but it’s not insurmountable.

Eight matches is more than enough for the south coast club to peg the gap back, but what will be a worry is