‘I’m nowhere near where I was’: Regan Poole’s brutal confidence admission as he admits to Portsmouth struggles

But the defender is adamant he’ll return to the displays which saw him emerge as a huge asset for the Blues last season.

Poole has given an honest account of his displays, since returning from a serious knee injury in September.

The 26-year-old is now 19 games into that comeback from over months out, with news emerging last week of the Wales international sealing a new two-year deal at Fratton Park.

Poole spoke in typically forthright fashion of his performances this term, however, feeling they are a long way from the highs he hit last season after his arrival from Lincoln.

He said: ‘I’m really happy to be here, I just want to get back to where I was. I just want to get back to the form I had.

‘I’ve shown glimpses of it this season, but nowhere near where I was.

‘It’s a confidence thing really, so I just need to look at these last games this season and show everyone what I can do.

‘It takes time, a lot of people have told me it takes time.

‘There’s glimpses there, but I’m definitely not fully there - I’ll get there, though.’

After Poole’s contract news, the former Manchester United talent set his sights on securing Pompey’s place in the Championship this season.

But the key figure insisted that has to be the pre-cursor to concerted growth for the Blues in the second tier.

He added: ‘I just want to keep climbing that table. This is a brilliant football club who deserve to be in this league and even higher.

Pompey ‘still have a job to do’

‘So we want to climb the table and we want to build.

‘We don’t want to be, say, 17th in the table, we want to be higher. The focus is on finishing the season as strongly as possible and hopefully then next season finishing even higher.

‘We’re not happy where we are, and I don’t think we deserve to be in the situation we’re in.

‘So we’re looking for more consistency next season, but we aren’t thinking about that - we know we still have a job to do this season.’

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