Cook: Morecambe trip defines Pompey's start

The Blues travel to the Globe Arena tonight looking for their first win of the campaign at the fourth time of asking.

There’s some frustration that neither of the first two league performances so far have returned a success

The Pompey boss is keeping those emotions in check, however, at this formative stage of proceedings.

Victory would put Cook’s side on five points in a division where no-one has managed to deliver a maximum return from their opening two games.

He said: ‘If we were sat on four points going into the game we’d all be pleased.

‘But I’ve been around for a while and there is plenty of time yet to put strong runs together.

‘We’re a little bit disappointed not to have won, certainly against Carlisle.

‘But no-one gets promoted in August.

‘The important thing is managing disappointment, but I don’t think we have anything to be disappointed about from Crewe.

‘It needs to be kept in context, but fans get a bit high and low.

‘We are probably two points behind where we would like to be now.

‘But there is time to catch that up and if we go to Morecambe and win it would have been a decent enough start from us.’

Memories of Pompey’s last visit to Morecambe in February will be to the fore tonight.

Of course, no-one needs reminding of what happened that night as keeper Barry Roche scored in stoppage-time to give his side a 1-1 draw.

It was the only point the Shrimps returned from a bank of nine games as they struggled for form.

The moment was one Cook’s side struggled to recover from – coming in the middle of a run of one win from seven games.

‘Oh, it hurt. Oh my God,’ said Cook.

‘But it didn’t hurt as much as Plymouth!

‘We are looking to go there this time and win.

‘If we do that it will be three games unbeaten, with two away from home going into a good game at Fratton Park.’

Pompey are staying in Morecambe after Saturday’s draw with Crewe to prepare for a game against a side buoyed by a weekend victory over Blackpool.

Cook feels boss Jim Bentley deserves praise for the job he does at the club with restricted resources.

He added: ‘I love Jim, he’s a great lad. I’m looking forward to seeing him.

‘It’s a tough ground to go to and they had a great result at the weekend.

‘Jim has done a great job and we look forward to going there.

‘They always over achieve. Jim does a fantastic job. All these teams are difficult.

‘They’ve had two good wins against Rotherham and Blackpool now.

‘It shows it’s going to be a tough league, but it’s a game we’re looking forward to.

‘The important thing is to do things properly and we’ve been able to stay up to do that.

‘That has given us good preparation.

‘It’s due to the season-ticket sales, the attitude at the club and the whole infrastructure we are able to do that.’