New boy's promise to fans as he delivers Portsmouth warning after Wigan loss makes for dreadful start

But the Blues’ new boy warned his side they have to quickly address their winless opening to the campaign, to stop their confidence completely evaporating.

The pressure is being ramped up on Kenny Jackett after the desperate 2-1 loss to Wigan, which put paid to his side’s 17-month unbeaten home record

Only Ellis Harrison’s 89th-minute consolation stopped Pompey being the only outfit in the division to score a goal this season.

It leaves them fourth bottom of the formative League One table with the opening to the campaign the complete opposite of what was demanded, after a slow start last season was pinpointed as the key to failing to gain automatic promotion.

Johnson gave an honest appraisal of the situation his team face after his summer arrival from Accrington.

The 23-year-old knows things need to be quickly addressed, but, after assessing his new team-mates, is in absolutely no doubt the ability is there to put things right.

He said: ‘I do see enough quality, enough character and enough experience in that dressing room.

‘But we have to turn it around quickly and put things right.

‘I’ve seen the quality in training and I’ve seen the quality during games for periods.

‘There’s ability in this team to be at the top of the table.

‘We can definitely turn it around, but when you win your confident and when you lose you’re not.

‘We have to keep our confidence at some sort of level to go into the next game believing you’re going to win - and I think we can do that.’

After a fast start, Pompey’s afternoon went downhill with goals either side of half time doing the damage for John Sheridan’s side.

It was the reverse of what happened at Rochdale last weekend, as Jackett’s came on strong after a lacklustre opening.

Johnson feels Pompey need to find a way to get the first win on the board and that will allow belief and momentum to grow.

He said: ‘The aim was to start well because we didn’t last week.

‘We did that, but we didn’t continue it through.

‘We started fast but fell off and then when the goal went in it took us a while to get going again. By then it’s too late.

‘But there’s a good balance here, it just needs that little click which will turn things around.

‘It clicks and then you just start winning. We had it at Accrington.

‘Once you start winning it just rolls and rolls and rolls and you get that momentum.

‘Hopefully the same thing will happen here.

‘There’s an opportunity coming up to go to Burton and get a result to give us the momentum we need.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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