Sean Raggett reassures Portsmouth faithful that Blues have the right characters to fight Ipswich, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday & Co for promotion this season

The Blues shot out of the blocks in the opening weeks of the campaign as they raced to the top of the third tier summit.

Although this prompted plenty of excitement about the possibility of Championship football for Danny Cowley’s men next term, their impressive form has stuttered in recent matches, picking up just two points from their previous nine available.

That difficult run also saw the end of their 10 game undefeated start to the season, a feat which was abruptly brought to an end against Ipswich last week.

Pompey have since lost ground to the Tractor Boys and Plymouth with the Blues sitting eight points behind the top two, albeit with two games in hand on their main promotion rivals.

Raggett understands recent results have been below their high standards and understands the criticism his side have faced.

Yet, the central defender ‘can’t fault’ the Blues’ start to the season and insists they have the right characters to reach the Championship in May.

‘It’s definitely been a positive start.’ He told The News.

‘There’s a couple of results there that we are disappointed with but on the whole it’s been a very good start and we’ll be looking to get back to winning ways against Charlton.

‘I think we have a good group of really good characters, we have a lot of quality in the squad.

‘I can’t fault the boys with how we’ve started, it’s a great group of lads, there’s no bad eggs and even the boys who don’t quite make the starting XI or squad they’re still great lads.

‘I think having the bond and togetherness in the team really helps us.’

This summer saw the arrival of 12 new faces at Fratton Park including experienced duo Marlon Pack and Michael Morrison along with talented youngsters Dane Scarlett, Josh Griffiths and Zak Swanson.

Raggett believes the Blues have masterminded the perfect balance between youth and experience and admits the young prospects will only get better as the season progresses.

‘We’ve got a really good balance of experience and youth.’ He added.

‘We’ve got some really good young players up and coming and those good young players need to play with experienced boys.

‘That’s how it works and that’s how they get better and I believe we’ve got the balance right here.’