Skipper delivers honest assessment of where Portsmouth have come up short this season - and what’s needed to finally get out of League One after success with Blackpool and Rotherham United

The Blues skipper acknowledged a lack of wins against rivals chasing promotion has hindered efforts for success this term.

Tuesday’s victory over Rotherham saw Danny Cowley’s men produce one of their best results of the season.

But the rain-affected win over Sunderland in October was the only other time three points has been picked up against the current top six.

That’s contributed to inconsistent form with Pompey putting winning runs together - but also enduring lengthy periods without success.

Robertson feels finding extra goals to marry with the defensive strength which is in place will also be required, to ensure League One success is delivered at the sixth time of asking.

He said: ‘We’ve only won a few games against the top teams this season.

‘It’s something we need to do better next season, hopefully.

‘Maybe we haven’t been good enough going forward at times.

‘Defensively we’re okay and our clean sheets are up there. It’s just a team effort is needed to score goals.

‘You need to be consistent in this league, too.

‘We’ve had periods of 10-game unbeaten runs, then it’s not winning for six or seven games.

‘In this league you need to do it consistently.

‘If you do go six or seven games without a win, it is going to be difficult to get yourself back in contention.’

The League One play-off chase looks to be heading towards an unusually high number this year, with Sunderland currently in sixth place on 73 points.

Over the past 20 seasons in which a season was played to its natural conclusion, 74 points has been the average needed to finish sixth.

The lowest total over that period was the 69 points which got Paul Cook’s Chesterfield into the play-offs in the 2014-15 season, while Cardiff required a whopping 81 points to do likewise in the 2002-03 campaign.

Robertson added: ‘In virtually any other season, too, we would have been in with a shout of making the play-offs.

‘It is going to be high - around 80 points, and that’s probably unheard of in this league. It’s something we have to aim towards.

‘Normally, 74 or 75 points would get you in the play-offs.

‘It’s going to be more than that this season, obviously - we need to aim for that.’