Kenny Jackett: League One promotion is always Portsmouth's priority - now we must focus

Following two cup defeats in 72 hours, the Blues have solely League One to concentrate on for the remainder of the season.

Few fans would disagree that promotion remains the primary objective rather than progress in the FA Cup and Papa John’s Trophy.

Certainly it is an ambition shared by Jackett, who fielded a reserve side with youngsters thrown in at London Road last night.

In contrast, the Posh were at full strength – and inflicted a 5-1 hammering on the visitors.

Now there are 27 fixtures remaining for third-placed Pompey to secure a Championship return.

Kenny Jackett told The News: ‘Of course the league is the priority, but right now I am disappointed we have gone out of the cup.

‘You never want that and you never want to lose games, that’s the frustration.

‘But similarly we can’t dwell on it too much because we have some big games coming up, starting with Fleetwood on Saturday.

‘There are a lot of games remaining, a lot of points to play for, and we have to concentrate and focus on that quickly.

‘The league is priority but we don’t want to lose any matches. We made the gap too big last night and Peterborough won.

‘I’d like to get through and go as far as we can in cup competitions. We got past Christmas in both the FA Cup and, in this competition, past the group stages and into the second round of the knock-out stages.

‘We are now no longer involved and we can’t dwell on that. We have league games now to focus on for the rest of the season.’

Pompey employed a back three at London Road consisting of James Bolton, skipper Paul Downing and Rasmus Nicolaisen.

Downing was forced off with a hamstring problem with 18 minutes to go, yet overall struggled badly against Posh.

And Jackett was disappointed with the Blues’ defending as a team in the 5-1 rout.

He added: ‘To concede five goals is frustrating because they didn’t actually have that many shots.

‘Two free-kicks, direct from the edge of the box went in. The first one from Jonson Clarke-Harris when we didn’t jump, and the second under/through the wall from Ethan Hamilton.

‘The third goal just before half-time was a wide free-kick and we won the first header, with Paul Downing actually heading it into Frankie Kent and it’s gone in.

‘Three of the five goals were really soft and it has made the gap too difficult for us.

‘They put out a good side and we had a mixture, but you have to work hard to defend first and foremost and give yourself a base to go off – not give away soft goals.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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