Opinion: The Ipswich game goes straight into my all-time worst 10 Portsmouth displays

I like to look on the bright side and hope for the best where the team are concerned.

And just a few weeks ago I was saying in this very column that my approach to this season would be to expect little and enjoy any wins or successful spells that cropped up.

But even my hopes of a mid-table up-and-down campaign that we could all settle into were tested – if not blown out of the water – last week.

I’m not one of these fans who thinks every win means we’re title certs and every defeat opens the relegation door.

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But sometimes you have to say of a performance… it was just awful. Awful without one redeeming feature.

The Ipswich game, for me (and probably many), goes straight into my all-time worst 10 Pompey displays.

Wasn’t it just horrible? Lifeless. Tortuous to watch.

Even at 0-0 there was nothing to make you think you were in for a decent night’s entertainment.

At 0-1 you never thought we’d rescue a point – then when the goals started flying in after the break, it was, as plenty said, embarrassing to watch.

It’s a while since I came away from FP feeling like that.

Time dims the memory but I suspect there were some home defeats in the first couple of years in League Two that were similar.

But even those were not as bad as this, I don’t think.

As much as last season’s Blues team came up short, what we’d have given for a Whatmough, Naylor or Close to lift Tuesday’s show.

Having said that, I’m refusing to lower my expectations further.

This squad should be capable of finishing in the top half (though not the top six) and I think they will.

Anything below 12th place and the owners need to think – and start – again.