Matt Clarke's disappointment as below-par Portsmouth end league campaign with Accrington point

The below-par Blues’ 1-1 draw with Accrington condemned them to finishing fourth, with Charlton instead claiming third place on goal difference.

It pitches Kenny Jackett’s men against Sunderland in the play-off semi-finals, which kick off at the Stadium of Light next Saturday evening.

Before today’s Fratton Park draw, Clarke was presented with The News/Sports Mail’s Player of the Season, among 13 awards he received on the day.

Yet it turned out to be an unsatisfying day for the highly-regarded 22-year-old.

Clarke said: ‘This game doesn’t define where you finish overall, but it would have been nice to get a convincing win, keep a clean sheet, score some goals, and gone into the play-offs with the momentum.

‘We played some good football without creating much in the first half, then to concede straight after the break was frustrating and gave us a bit of a mountain to climb.

‘We had a good, solid first-half and were looking to build on that and that goal knocked us.

‘Maybe we were a bit flat, but there isn’t that flatness in the camp, we are confident, we are close to playing well in many respects.

‘Maybe it’s not clicking for us, but hopefully it does over the next three games.

‘We didn’t win it (against Accrington) so you can’t say we should have done this and deserved to do that.

‘The long and short of it is we didn’t win today and will be looking to perform a little bit better and get a couple of wins over the next few games.’