Portsmouth defender Sean Raggett reflects on how football will cope after lockdown blow

On Saturday evening, Prime minister Boris Johnson announced fresh plans to combat a rise in coronavirus cases, consisting of locking down until December 2.

However, it has been confirmed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that elite sport will be able to continue, meaning Football League competitions will not be affected.

Previously, football was suspended in mid-March, only for Leagues One and Two to return in July purely to fulfil play-off schedules.

And Raggett, who was among six different Pompey players to test positive for coronavirus during that period, believes it’s business as usual during the newest measures.

He told The News: ‘We are used to how it is, such as having no fans now.

‘Nobody wants a lockdown, but for us players it’s something which won’t make too much difference.

‘We will come in, train, go home and rest, I don’t think many players do much else outside, especially when we have games on Saturday/Tuesday.

‘We are all focused on our jobs, I don’t think this will make too much of a difference.

‘Everyone knows the situation now, the first time round it was a whole new thing, a bit strange, but we now know what to expect. We hopefully will be able to play the games.

‘We have been all right in our group, we haven’t had any symptoms or anything, the boys are obviously being sensible and hopefully it can stay that way.

SUBSCRIBE today for the latest Pompey updates

‘I don’t think there should be an issue, we are all in a bubble together, we don’t do much outside football, we have been very sensible and can carry on like that.

‘In football, it has been handled very well, it should be fine to carry on.’

The Blues lost 2-0 to Charlton on Saturday, ending their recent revival.

Jonny Williams and substitute Chuks Aneke were the scorers, ensuring Lee Bowyer’s side leapfrogged above Pompey in the League One table.

A third Fratton Park defeat of the season leaves the Blues in seventh.

Raggett added: ‘It wasn’t a bad performance, they are a very good side, you expect them to be up there with us at the end of the season.

‘They took their chances and we didn’t quite have enough in the final third.

‘We’ve created a lot of chances recently, so you’re going to have little off-days like that.

‘The forwards have been great the last few weeks and they were good on Saturday, it just didn’t quite go for them.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

The News has launched a new subscription offer which gives you unlimited access to all of our Pompey coverage.

You can subscribe here to get the latest news and transfer updates from Fratton Park - and to support our local team of expert Pompey writers.