Sean Raggett defends Portsmouth team-mates ahead of Bolton clash after recent second-half horror shows against Rotherham and Ipswich

Questions had been asked of the 27-year-old and his team-mates recently after they struggled to shift momentum when faced with adversity – notably in the defeats to Rotherham and Ipswich.

After equalising shortly after half-time against the Millers, the New York Stadium hosts scored three goals in seven minutes to condemn Danny Cowley’s team to defeat.

And against the Tractor Boys three days later, the situation worsened as Paul Cook’s side ran riot at Fratton Park to score three second-half goals of their own as the home side conceded four goals in consecutive matches.

These frailties manifested themselves again at Accrington last weekend when the hosts netted twice after the interval, before a late Marcus Harness equaliser salvaged a point.

And that led to criticism heading the team’s way as many – including the manager – questioned the players’ character and leadership qualities.

However, former Norwich defender Raggett said the issue relates to confidence rather than the Blues having a lack of authority figures in their ranks.

Speaking to The News, he said: ‘I don’t think it’s a leadership issue, I just think we lost a bit of confidence within ourselves for that run.

‘It’s frustrating because if you look at the Plymouth and Charlton games and we win them, you probably don’t have those types of issues and it probably changes a lot.

‘The small margins can really make an impact on the group, but I feel like we've ironed out the issues that we’ve had and moving forward we’ll be a lot stronger.

‘We started the season very well in terms of goals conceded as we recorded four clean sheets across the first four games.

‘We then lost Clark Robertson, which isn’t ideal, and we didn’t do too badly.

‘But we were making little individual mistakes then it seemed like we lost a bit of confidence, maybe.

‘And then when we’d concede, we’d end up capitulating a little bit in a few games and I think it was mainly down to the confidence.

‘But we’ve sort of got that back and we’ve looked at the games.

‘We can’t put it down to personnel as we’ve got very good footballers at this club.’