Danny Cowley's verdict on Portsmouth's gloomy play-off outlook ahead of Bolton trip

Certainly he’s not yet ready to give up on what now appears to be an improbable mission – at least not publicly.

Pompey are currently 11 points adrift of sixth-placed Sunderland with the campaign having now entered its final month.

The 10th-placed Blues possess at least two games in hand on all the play-off contenders positioned above, yet qualification still looks extremely remote.

Cowley’s men travel to Bolton tonight (8pm) in a busy League One midweek fixture list involving seven matches.

And, backed by one defeat in 10 games, he has urged his troops to finish the season as strongly as possible.

Cowley told The News: ‘We are going to attack every game and try to win every game.

‘We know in this division that’s incredibly difficult, you’ve only got to look at the league and how the fixtures have played out in our enforced break to see everyone can beat everyone.

‘We’ve had two really good runs this season and believe we’re still in the middle of that second run and want to finish strongly.

‘I think reaching the play-offs would be an outstanding achievement from where we are in terms of the football club and the players we have available.

‘We will keep trying to develop, keep trying to grow, and will attack every game.

‘Let others focus on the outcome, we are very process-orientated here, we want to keep trying to improve on the training pitch.

‘This week we have two really tough away games, two very, very different challenges in Bolton and Cheltenham, and will attack those games to find the very best version of ourselves.’

Cowley stops short of setting Pompey a points target or drawing up what must be achieved to reach the play-offs, however.

Last season they finished eighth with 72 points – and are presently on 59 points with eight games remaining.

He added: ‘The ambition is to get better every day, we want to keep improving.

‘If we can do that then we know that, if we get the process right, the outcomes will ultimately take care of themselves.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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