Portsmouth's message to the rest of League One over where they're going this season

Pompey fired a warning to the rest of League One as they vowed: We’re nowhere near our peak.
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Kenny Jackett’s side put Rochdale to the sword with a display of counter-attacking quality which saw them leave Spotland with a 3-0 win on Saturday.

The textbook away performance saw the Blues extend their run to a single defeat from 11 games, along with four wins and two draws from their past six outings.

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Despite their upwardly-mobile form, the sentiment from within Pompey’s ranks is there is still a lot of work to be put in to find a better level of consistency.

Assistant manager Joe Gallen feels there is a lot of improvement to be made - and that’s bad news for the rest of League One.

Gallen said: ‘I don’t think we’ve anywhere near peaked.

‘In terms of our team I don’t think we’ve anywhere near peaked this season and the best is yet to come from us.

‘I fully expect us to improve as we go.

Pompey celebrate their third goal at Rochdale. Photo by Daniel ChestertonPompey celebrate their third goal at Rochdale. Photo by Daniel Chesterton
Pompey celebrate their third goal at Rochdale. Photo by Daniel Chesterton

‘I think that is underpinned by attitude, spirit and togetherness.

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‘It’s fitness levels, sprinting, running and off the back of that, the ability we possess on the ball.

‘I think that ability we’ve got will naturally, instinctively come through off the back of that.

‘We’ve got the technical ability. There’s no doubt about that.

‘If you look at our first goal, it came from a moment of quality from John Marquis.

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‘It was a twist and a turn and then Ronan’s one-touch finish.

‘It was a brilliant finish and the turn was brilliant as well. Then there was Brett’s turn for the third goal.

‘We’ve got the ability. But that alone isn’t going to be enough to get us out of this league.’

It’s been far from plain sailing for Pompey this season with their stuttering early form causing plenty of frustration among supporters.

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Saturday’s win lifts them up to 11th in the table, however, ahead of tomorrow’s visit from fourth-placed Rotherham.

Gallen hinted at some straight talking taking place with Pompey’s players in recent weeks over what’s required to kickstart the team’s season.

He added: ‘For us, the games are tough and teams raise their games for us.

‘So we have to play above ourselves.

‘That’s been the message we got out to the players. That’s what we need - and they’re responding.

‘The technical ability is there - and it will come out once we done the ugly stuff.’

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