Lowe targets that familiar end-of-season Pompey magic

With eight matches remaining, the Blues head to Walsall tomorrow two points adrift of the League One play-off spots.

Currently placed eighth, successive victories have stoked up belief Kenny Jackett’s can stage a successful late run.

Lowe was part of the Pompey side which captured 31 points out of a potential 36 to clinch the League Two title last term.

That consisted of seven wins and one draw from their final eight matches of the campaign.

Similar form this time around would earn the Blues a play-off spot, especially with rivals Plymouth and Peterborough still to face.

And Lowe, who scored the promotion-clincher at Notts County, certainly knows the secret to achieving such ambition.

He said: ‘Anything can happen in football, as we saw last season.

‘No-one really thought we were going to win the league, we were just fighting for third place – but we did, you know.

‘I don’t want to get too carried away, no-one wants to get too carried away, it’s just taking it every game.

‘Every game is massive for us now. It’s eight matches left so let’s try to keep this momentum throughout the season.

‘It would be an outstanding achievement to get into the top six and finish there for the play-offs – and once you are there anything can happen.

‘Last season it was a case of taking every game as it came, not getting too carried away.

‘Once we got promoted it was still taking every game and trying to get the highest points tally possible.

‘It turned out that we won the league.

‘We are going to try to do the same thing this year, try to get as many points on the board as possible and see where we are.

‘I don’t think there will be any crumbling come the end of the season. Peterborough could be the decider, we just have to build to that game.’

The Blues’ run-in has been buoyed by a return to fitness of Brett Pitman, Nathan Thompson, Stuart O’Keefe, Gareth Evans and Oli Hawkins.

And Lowe acknowledged their comebacks as ‘massive’.

He added: It’s massive getting those players back.

‘It’s good to have those calibre of players returning to the squad, it only brings experience.

‘They have all played at this level previously and played however many games between them.’

– NEIL ALLEN