Colchester boss makes prediction on where Portsmouth will finish in League One this season

The Blues delivered a well-deserved 2-0 victory over their League Two visitors in the EFL Trophy at Fratton Park on Tuesday night.

Marcus Harness fired home twice in as many first-half minutes, while Kenny Jackett’s side squandered several good chances after the interval.

The aim for Pompey again this term is promotion, after suffering play-off semi-final defeat in the past two campaigns.

The race to go up will be competitive, with the likes of Sunderland, Peterborough, Hull, Ipswich and Oxford – who beat the Blues in the play-offs on penalties – all fancied.

Jackett's side finished fifth last season after the table was decided by an unweighted points-per-game formula amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

But Bull believes Pompey will go one better, at a minimum, this time around.

Speaking to BBC Radio Essex, he said: ‘I’m really frustrated, a bit more than Saturday (after losing to Reading).

‘I just think we played two really good teams and Portsmouth is a really big club, as we all know.

‘I thought we absolutely dictated the patterns in the game in the first half-hour.

‘It was like for like in the shape and I just thought that we controlled the game; they didn’t look like scoring.

‘We had a couple of moments without really threatening but I just thought that we were in total control of the game.

‘But in the space of a minute, things change and that’s where we have to get better and focus and concentrate, whether the players are senior or young ones.

‘We all have to focus and switch on because, ultimately, a minute of madness has cost us the game.

‘Portsmouth are a really strong side and they’ll definitely be top three or four this season.

‘But that’s where we have to learn to be better and I’ve just said to the players, aside from that minute we’d have come away with a 0-0, albeit they had good chances.’

Pompey begin their League One campaign against Shrewsbury at Fratton Park on Saturday.