Boss of Portsmouth's promotion rivals makes 'sticky patch' admission amid Paul Warne warning

Portsmouth continue to lead the League One table as the final months come into focus. John Mousinho's men are currently seven points ahead of Derby County and Bolton Wanderers, with the latter having one game in hand.

In a huge boost for Pompey, both of their nearest promotion rivals lost their games in hand on Tuesday night, and the outlook suddenly looks a lot brighter. As Mousinho and his men plot their way to the Championship, we have rounded up all the latest news surrounding Fratton Park.

Derby Warne-ing

Derby boss Paul Warne has told his team they need to be 'braver' if they want to secure promotion. He said after Tuesday night's defeat to Charlton: "We've lost an absolute shed load of points at home and we could be looking handsome, but we're not. There have been a few games where I've been beyond frustrated because we make crazy decisions. We lost a bit of a battle in the middle of the park and all of a sudden we didn't look as fresh.

"Ryan Nyambe came off and that had an impact although I thought our two centre-backs were excellent and as was Eiran Cashin playing out of position at left-back. I just thought we didn't have enough of a physical part of our game to match Charlton's intensity.

"That is how I feel. We got done with two bits of play from ourselves and Charlton took advantage of that. We should be good enough as group to see out a result when we go ahead. With six home games left, and five away, we need to be much better at home and much braver when things get difficult."

Evatt on Bolton blip

Bolton boss Ian Evatt has cut a concerned figure after his side's defeat on Tuesday night. He told the Bolton official website: "We've got 12 games left. We're no worse off again and if this is our sticky patch then we have to ride it out. It's not about imploding and panicking. It's about staying calm, staying composed and focusing on what we need to do to get wins to get us out of this league.

“This is the first time we've really completely dominated Wigan and we've lost the game. We have to take our medicine and I'm so disappointed for our fans because we really wanted to do it for them and put it right for them. But if we play like that we'll be okay and if we manage to get ourselves out of this league I'm sure they'll forgive us for the last few days."

He added: “Right now it has to hurt and it does. It really hurts us all. We've really got to rally, get our heads down and work even harder and on Saturday make the Toughsheet as loud as we possibly can and get it rocking and support the players stick and together as a football club, because it's in the tough times that really counts."