Players earn Kenny Jackett praise after rare Portsmouth landmark against Fleetwood

The Blues shared a goalless draw with Fleetwood in an often feisty encounter which produced eight bookings.

With Lincoln losing to Shrewsbury, that was enough for Jackett’s men to climb into second spot in League One.

That represented their highest placing since February 2019 - and the first time they have occupied the automatic promotion spots.

Admittedly, the Blues have played just 18 League One fixtures so far this season.

Nonetheless reaching the top two for the first time in 22 months leaves Pompey well-placed in the promotion race.

Jackett said: ‘Congratulations to the players. They’ve put a lot of effort in and showed a lot of passion last night - and that they cared.

‘Ultimately, it was a slightly frustrating night because we didn’t score any goals and obviously you always want to be doing that.

‘We are in a good position and once we have talked about yesterday and some of our decision makings at certain times, we then have to look forward to Friday.

‘You would rather be in the top two then the bottom two, always, and you don’t want anybody to get away too far.

‘In December and the turnaround for the New Year, it’s great to be well placed.

‘If we can keep being in that situation and keep pushing, we can enter the run-in in hopefully a good position.’

Pompey are now two points adrift of leaders Hull - their opponents on Friday night.

The Tigers lost 3-2 at Blackpool yesterday evening, the winner from CJ Hamilton arriving three minutes into time added on.