Four-goal Portsmouth handed warning ahead of 'big test' against Bolton

But he hoped no-one would get too carried away with a tough test against Bolton up next.

The Blues play host to Ian Evatt’s high-fliers on Tuesday night, after the Trotters inflicted a 3-0 League One defeat on the then managerless Fratton Park outfit last month.

That’s one of the eight league victories Bolton have secured over the past 10 games that subsequently has third and second-placed Ipswich and Plymouth nervously looking over their shoulders.

Pompey will rightly approach the game with confidence as well, with the win against Cheltenham the Blues’ fourth since John Mousinho took charge.

There has been a notable improvement in performances and results since the former Oxford United defender arrived at the end of January.

But Whittingham believes the visit of the Trotters will provide a proper indication of Pompey’s progress – not Cheltenham.

After witnessing four different players scored in the 4-0 win against the Robins, the former Blues manager and player told BBC Solent: ‘I think after the last three games, he (Mousinho) will have been looking for a bit more creativity, somebody else who can score the goals – and that’s certainly what they’ve done.

‘But it was against a Cheltenham team who are struggling and Portsmouth made them look poor.

‘Let’s get that right, they were poor to begin with but Portsmouth made them look poor with the football they were playing.

‘They were better second half, Cheltenham, but Portsmouth still created good chances.

‘It was a decent performance, but let’s see what they do against Bolton on a Tuesday night.

‘Let’s enjoy this performance, let’s not get excited and say the play-offs are back on, because that’s going to be tough.

‘You need promotion standards to get to the play-offs.

‘But that (performance) should encourage those players to go up against Bolton – a side in the play-offs and going well – to play a similar type of football.

‘Let’s see what Bolton do against you.’

Whittingham added: ‘It’s a good test for John Mousinho to see where his side are – a team that’s near the top of the league, fourth, and not too many points off third position.

‘It’s a big test and then again, onto Cambridge. There’s a lot of games coming up.’

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