'Almost there' - rival League One boss predicts how many wins Portsmouth need to clinch Championship return ahead of Derby and Bolton

Pompey are ‘six to seven wins away’ from making a return to the Championship.

That’s according to Stevenage boss Steve Evans, whose side also retain ambitions of making it to the second tier of English football for the first time in their history.

And to reassure any Blues supporter who is perhaps nervous at where those victories will come from, with just 12 League One games remaining, the Boro manager was confident Pompey would  be ‘absolutely fine’ when it comes to delivering on their promotion ambitions.

At present, John Mousinho’s side enjoy a six-point advantage at the top of the table. Main rivals Derby and Bolton both have games in hand - but only Ian Evatt’s side have the ability to match the Blues’ current points total of 72.

Pompey head to Charlton on Saturday knowing that, on average, 87.7 points has been enough over the past nine seasons (not including the Covid-hit 2019-20 campaign) to win automatic promotion. They remain 15.7 points off that target with six home and six away games remaining. However, Evans is sure Mousinho & Co already have one foot in the Championship. It’s now up to the rest, including Stevenage, to see who follows them.

Speaking to the Stevenage media ahead of their game against Wycombe on Saturday, Evans said: ‘I watched a Bolton Wanderers team at Cambridge on Tuesday (who have) been absolutely outstanding – that is the appropriate word.

‘Portsmouth are absolutely fine. Derby got a great win against us. There are Barnsley that keep troubling these ones.

‘We do not know who are going to jump into those automatics. I think Portsmouth are almost there. They are probably six or seven wins away.

‘And who falls below that, there will be a fight with three or four of them.We need t o make sure we win the fight for that last play-off place.’