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Portsmouth are once again setting their sights on promotion to the Championship this season, with the club keen to end their four year stay in League One.
The south coast side currently find themselves in fifth place in the Sky Bet League One table and seven points behind leaders Lincoln City, who they played at Fratton Park on Tuesday.
Despite the club losing their last two games against their promotion rivals, it has still been a relatively successful season for the Blues. The game against the Imps signalled their arrival at the halfway point of the season, so it is time for us to look back at Pompey’s campaign so far.
Portsmouth’s 2020/21 season began with two cup games. A Carabao Cup trip to Stevenage saw the Blues progress to the next round via penalties after a hectic 3-3 draw in normal time at the end of August. Their second competitive game was a home tie against Colchester United in the Papa John’s Trophy, which saw the hosts triumph 2-0.
The first league game of the season was at home to Shrewsbury Town, with a goalless draw being the full time result. Portsmouth’s second round tie in the Carabao Cup saw them make the short trip along the south coast to Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion, only to suffer a 4-0 defeat.
Another 0-0 draw in the league away at Rochdale and a 2-1 home loss to Wigan Athletic saw the Blues finish September with just the two wins out of a possible six games.
Pompey knew they had to turn things around if they were to stand any chance of reaching the play-off spots for the third season in a row. A Marcus Harness hat-trick against his former club Burton Albion helped to seal a 4-2 win away from home and a 3-0 win away at Southend in the Papa John’s trophy gave the Blues successive wins.
The club’s first home league win of the season came against MK Dons as they triumphed 2-1, only for their winning run to be halted with a 1-0 loss to Doncaster Rovers at Fratton Park.
They soon turned their fortunes around with wins against Gillingham, league rivals Sunderland and Northampton Town, but then suffered a loss at home to Charlton Athletic. After 10 games, Pompey found themselves in seventh in the league, just outside of the play-off spots.
November got off to a great start for Pompey. A 3-1 win away at Lincoln, with the help of a John Marquis brace, proved to be a huge victory against a side who are also aiming for Championship football next season.
The Blues also progressed to the second round of the FA Cup after beating fellow League One side Ipswich Town 3-2 after extra time, with Sean Raggett’s 111th minute header being the winning goal.
A loss in the Papa John’s trophy to the West Ham U21s once again broke the club’s winning form, but they went unbeaten in their next three league games thanks to a win against Crewe Alexandra and draws with Plymouth Argyle and Oxford United, who the Blues played in the play-off semi-final last season.
Pompey advanced to the FA Cup third round with a comfortable 6-1 win at home to King’s Lynn Town, which saw goals coming from six different scorers. Despite this emphatic win, the start of December saw the Blues lose to Blackpool away from home, but they soon returned to winning ways with consecutive victories over Peterborough United, Cheltenham Town in the Papa John’s Trophy and Ipswich Town once again.
A goalless draw against Fleetwood and a huge 2-0 win away at top of the table Hull City would be Pompey’s final games of 2020. A COVID-19 outbreak amongst the squad saw the Boxing Day game against Swindon Town and subsequent fixture at Bristol Rovers both postponed until a later date. The squad were due to return to action on the 2nd January away against Accrington Stanley, only for a frozen pitch to give Pompey another postponement.
An FA Cup tie away at Championship side Bristol City would end nearly three weeks without a game for Portsmouth, but the home side ended the day victorious with a 2-1 win. The Blues would exit another cup just two days later after being destroyed by Peterborough United 5-1 in the Papa John’s Trophy. Their league form, however, would pick up thanks to wins against Fleetwood Town and AFC Wimbledon.
It seemed as though Pompey were on course to continue their charge to promotion, but home losses to top six rivals Hull and Lincoln have halted their progress. The Blues now find themselves within the promotion spots but with the knowledge that they could have further established themselves as favourites for Championship football next season with wins against their fellow competitors for the automatic places.
However with only half of the league season played, anything is still possible for Pompey. They are only four points off second place with a game in hand over Hull, who currently occupy that spot. A long second half of the season remains, with more mid-week fixtures being played due to the postponements over the Christmas period.
Despite this, Pompey certainly have the squad to make a real challenge for promotion and new arrivals such as Charlie Daniels and George Byers will help the team to achieve their end goal, which is a return to the Championship.
