Ex-Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham defender’s honest verdict on Portsmouth’s promotion chances after recent dip in form

The Blues have fallen off the pace in recent months, having picked up three points just once in their past 10 league outings.

After a bright start, their recent run has seen them drop to eighth in the table and missed the chance to capitalise on dropped points by the promotion rivals this weekend after they slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Wycombe.

Danny Cowley’s side have once-again been questioned by the Fratton faithful as to whether they are real promotion contenders but Morrison is defiant his side will be fighting for Championship football this term.

He told The News: ‘I thought we started (the season) brilliantly and it was really exciting and everyone was behind us and then we’ve found it a bit more difficult as teams have found out how we play.

‘It’s now getting back to the levels at the beginning of the season and that’ll make a really big difference.

‘I think we’re a really good side but we lack a bit of confidence at the moment.

‘There’s definitely enough quality in the squad to be in the play-offs. I think we’ve under achieved if we don’t get that and we’ve set standards well enough at the beginning of the season to see what we’re about but that is still the aim and that should be the aim.

‘We’re Portsmouth, that is the expectation so if you fall below that then rightly so fans are going to question that.

We’ve got a couple of games in hand, which makes it really important.

‘You win a game and it puts some confidence in the team but every team has bad spells, it's just about how quickly you can get out of it.’

Plymouth, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday currently occupy the top three positions as they begin to separate themselves from the chasing pack at the summit of the table.

Morrison is adamant the Blues have the right quality in the squad to compete for promotion and believes a number of his team-mates could make it into their rivals’ sides.

He added: ‘We’ve got some really good players here, Colby Bishop is one of the top scorers in the league, Dane Scarlett, Owen Dale and we’ve got players that are good enough to go in other teams and are top League One players.

‘Sometimes it doesn’t go for you and if it did you would be playing in the Premier League.

‘It’s just about finding consistency and we haven’t quite got to the heights we had at the beginning of the season.’