'Excited' Portsmouth skipper Marlon Pack addresses surprise play-off chances after toppling Millwall

Marlon Pack played down talk of Pompey’s play-off chances and insisted: It’s too soon.

A hard-fought 2-1 victory over Millwall made it one defeat in eight for John Mousinho’s men, lifting them into eighth in the Championship and the final play-off position.

However, as an early kick-off, once their rivals’ results are complete, the Blues are expected to drop a little further down the league.

Nonetheless, Pompey are in eye-catching form at present, including 10 points from a possible 12 since the agony of losing at Southampton.

But their skipper believes that while chat of the play-offs is welcome, it’s still a little premature.

Pack told The News: ’It’s a long, long season - and these are the positions we aspire to be in.

‘Just to be openly talking about it, where do you want this season to pan out, where do you want to be?

‘Against a side like Millwall, in a really tough game with conditions also making it tough, the pleasing thing is winning how we’ve won - and I don’t think we have done that this season. Obviously that’s the saying about the sign of a good side.

‘We are competing with some really big teams in this division, teams that have had success over recent years and had real longevity in the Championship - and that’s where we want to be as a football club.

‘We’re moving in the right direction. We have three games until the next international break so lets try to take as many points as we can and then reassess in mid-November.

‘We always say when the season is halfway through then you get an indication of where you might end up finishing.

‘The season is open because of the new format and from what I have seen so far - and I think the margins between sides are quite fine.’

The Blues had fallen behind to Jenson Metcalfe’s goal on six minutes, following a dreadful mistake from Nicolas Schmid when kicking the ball out.

However, it was level just 10 minutes later when Lyndon Dykes deflected Adrian Segecic’s free-kick into his own net.

Then, in the 82nd minute, substitute Thomas Waddingham popped up to grab the winner in front of the Fratton End to claim a third win in four matches.

Pack added: ‘It’s a good run, it’s nice to be on the end of a positive run. The response from the group has been fantastic since Southampton.

‘It could have gone the other way. The aftermath of Southampton was a tough one to take and you are kind of on a bit of an emotional hangover from that and the rawness of that.

‘I still feel like we’ve not reached the heights where I know we can, there’s another level for us, which is quite exciting.’