Pompey boss: Playing at Fratton Park still an advantage

And he refuses to deliver excuses for his side failing to collect sufficient home points in 2018.

The Blues have taken just two points from a possible 18 at Fratton since the turn of the year.

In addition, they have suffered home elimination at the hands of Chelsea under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy.

Overall, Pompey’s wretched new-year form has yielded only eight points, sparking a six-place drop from the play-off positions.

And chief contributing factor has been four defeats and two draws in home fixtures.

Jackett said: ‘Parts of them have been good displays, but we haven’t had the right components all the way through, otherwise we would have picked up results.

‘Saturday was a good example, part of it was good but ultimately it wasn’t good enough.

‘Gillingham got some cracking goals in the second half and we weren’t resilient enough to stop them.

‘By the end they deserved to win, they were the ones who scored the goals and we didn’t. The few chances and few shots they had were struck better than ours.

‘I always see Fratton Park as an opportunity to be positive, the crowd want to get behind the team, they will only react to what they see on the pitch, which is totally understandable.

‘They are keen to get behind the team as soon as they see something good and positive.

‘With a big crowd and the great ground we have, it’s an opportunity for all of us – manager, staff and players – to get the win and get some momentum.

‘You have to look at it that way.

‘It’s frustrating to be like this since the turn of the year at a ground where we had a very good home record earlier in the season.’

Earlier in the campaign, Pompey registered six successive wins at Fratton Park.

Yet there have been blanks since beating Northampton on December 30.

Jackett added: ‘Maybe nerves are the case, but that’s our job to come through and fight back. You handle the ups and downs how games go.

‘Being a professional footballer, using nerves is an excuse, not a reason.

‘Fratton Park, with the crowd we have, is a great opportunity to get the club going and onto a successful run of results.’

– NEIL ALLEN