No room for excuses says defender Lee Brown as Portsmouth prepare for League One curtain-raiser at Fleetwood

The Blues were able to include just 12 contracted players in their match-day squad for the 2-0 friendly win over Championship side Peterborough at Fratton Park yesterday.

Head coach Danny Cowley has seen a number of Pompey departures this summer and is still in the process of recruiting players for the upcoming campaign.

So far, the Blues have brought in eight new additions in the close season, but there remains a number of areas required to bolster within the squad.

Brown admitted it's far from an ideal situation Pompey find themselves in less than a week before they begin the new season at Fleetwood this Saturday.

However, he says the current squad can afford no excuses and must hit the ground running as they look to secure a return to the Championship this term.

Brown said: ‘We’ve got a small squad, it is what it is at moment, a week away from the season we’ve got a small squad but there’s no point moaning about it. We’ve got to work hard as a small knit group and try to get results. You can see that we’re working hard as a group.

‘When you go through a transition and get rid of a lot of players - you’re always going to be in this position.

‘It’s a hard window to try to recruit 10 players in a window.

‘It is a tough window, but we can sit here and make excuses all the time, but there’s no excuses or hiding when there’s 20,000 people in this stadium.

‘We’ve got to work hard and we’ve got to win football matches, it doesn’t matter if we’ve got 11 fit or 22 fit, it does not matter and we’ve got to win football matches.

‘We can all make excuses but them excuses get you absolutely nowhere - I’ll leave the recruitment down to the people who need to worry about the recruitment.

‘Us players, we’ve just got to worry about keeping ourselves fit, looking after our bodies and putting ourselves in the best possible physical position to play every week.’

Brown himself has struggled with injuries in the past couple of campaigns. The full-back, 30, was hampered by a problematic Achilles injury.

But the defender says that particular issue is now behind him and he's hopeful of playing a key role in Pompey's potential bid to finally secure promotion this term.

Brown added: ‘I’m over the Achilles injuries, touch wood, I hope that never comes back ever again.

‘I feel strong, but until the real McCoy starts and we start playing properly then it’s hard to tell.

‘I can’t say I’m never going to get an injury again but time will tell. Let’s just wait and see.

‘All I can do is prepare right away from football and put myself in the best possible position to stay fit.’