Ryan Williams' Portsmouth promotion verdict ahead of crunch Hull and Lincoln games

Ryan Williams celebrates his goal against AFC Wimbledon with Lee Brown. Picture: Joe Pepler

The Blues' 4-0 routing of AFC Wimbledon last night moved them within a point of the third-tier summit.

Williams, John Marquis, Sean Raggett and Ben Close all netted in the triumph at Fratton Park.

Pompey are in imperious form, having gone unbeaten in their past six games and not conceded a single goal.

With crunch battles against leaders Hull on Saturday and second-placed Lincoln three days’ later approaching, Kenny Jackett’s men have a chance to firmly establish themselves in the top two.

After being part of the side that suffered play-off semi-final heartbreak last campaign, Williams felt the Blues may have missed out on promotion was because they got ahead of themselves at times.

But the Aussie insists Pompey’s feet very much remain on the ground this time around.

Williams said: ‘It is strange because momentum is building but no-one is really getting ahead of themselves.

‘Maybe last season, at points, we maybe did. I don't know but everyone wants to win games and is getting their head down.

‘We're not thinking about promotion. Everyone is working hard, doing their best and it is working.

‘We have quite a stable team at the moment and the bench is strong if we do need to make changes.

‘As things stand, we are in a strong position – and that's whether we lose the next two games or not.

‘We are in a strong position with the team we have and the way we are playing so we’ll see. I’m exciting to see where we end up this season.

'I don’t look at the table. I know some of the boys do but I don’t because it is too early.

‘When I was at Barnsley (in 2015-16), we were rock-bottom at Christmas and ended up getting promoted. It’s just about momentum and we’ve got to keep it.

‘If we can float around the top two then put a run together in the last 10 games then maybe we could be promoted with five games to go.

‘That’s the beauty of football. It (promotion) is on the mind because that’s what we set out to do but we are just biding our time and ticking boxes.’

Jackett reckons Pompey’s squad is the strongest he's put together during his time as boss.

Williams echoes that sentiment.

He added: ‘I think it is strong, especially with Harvey (White) coming in.

‘It is a very strong squad and we have a very strong bond. I said at the start of the season that it wasn’t a bad thing we didn’t bring loads of players in.

‘Sometimes it's better to keep the ones you’ve got and let them gel even more. That’s what’s happened.’