Boos and dejected Portsmouth players - please don't conclude the season on such unfulfilling terms

Not all contributed, far from it, which must be pointed out, but it was clearly audible, deriving from scattered sections of the ground.

An 18th League One match undefeated at Fratton Park this season ensured Kenny Jackett’s side scrambled into fourth spot, a heartening scenario on paper.

Yet the display was unconvincing, Joey Barton’s team provided the superior performance against a Blues side which barely threatened opposition keeper Alex Cairns, who had to contend with as many on-target shots from his own defender as offered by the hosts.

Rightly or wrong, such an unsatisfactory display was perceived as justification for the smattering of boos in the direction of dejected players following the sounding of the referee’s whistle.

It could well prove to be the final act of the 2019-20 campaign.

No lap of appreciation from the players, no applause for the recipient of The News/Sports Mail’s Player of the Season, no emotional farewell to a faithful club servant on his last outing. Just boos.

The coronavirus’ intervention has dictated Pompey’s fixture list is incomplete – and supporters unfulfilled. Tuesday was no way to end a season, not like that.

Jackett’s troops crave the opportunity to amend matters, to demonstrate two substandard recent displays were nothing as torturous as an unfortunate blip.

For Christian Burgess, the player of the season elect for many, there remains an opportunity to heroically stroll back into the creaking defence and reinvigorate the side’s automatic promotion aspiration.

He’s out of contract in the summer, as are Lee Brown, Oli Hawkins, Brett Pitman and Brandon Haunstrup. Clearly not all will be retained.

As for Sean Raggett, how his Pompey career has blossomed from uncertain beginnings, magnificently rising to his feet to establish himself as a genuine cult figure, with potentially more flourishing to witness.

The most prominent question of all, however, centres on whether this Blues squad will finally restore the club back into the Championship following eight seasons in the wilderness. With patience among support ebbing, another failure is unthinkable.

We await the answer, to learn whether our opinions are correct or hopelessly ill founded. Blue tinted or negative grouch? Let’s find out once and for all.

Then again, the debate may be condemned to forever linger unresolved.

The truth is, nobody knows if this 2019-20 season will resume. We are marooned in unprecedented territory, unable to anticipate the coronavirus’ lifespan and when normality will once again descend.

There are those championing for the season to be scrapped, while others are prepared to apply a more tolerant approach, reassessing the situation as the weeks of footballing inactivity stack up.

Let the arguments rage on, at least they maintain a connection with a sport which has so frustratingly stalled.

In the meantime, we have blank Saturday afternoons to overcome and different television channels to unearth, perhaps even completion of those jobs around the house.

But please don’t allow Pompey’s season to conclude with Fratton Park boos and dejected players. Not like that.