'Stay with us': Portsmouth boss delivers rallying cry to fans after dismal defeat at Wycombe

A dismal display against promotion rivals Wycombe condemned the Blues to their first defeat in 10 matches in all competitions.

On the flip side, they have now tasted just one League One victory in the last two-and-a-half months, leaving them in eighth.

Regardless, Pompey remain two points outside the play-offs, with two matches in hand on many of their competitors at the top end of the table.

And following their Adams Park set-back and a 2-0 defeat which must rank as one of their worst displays of the season, Cowley has called on supporters not to lose faith.

He told The News: ‘The truth is that's the first time we have lost in 10 games. I can't help it if there’s cup games so we shouldn't include them, we just play the next one.

‘We were short against Wycombe but are still in a really good position, we have games in hand, we are on the edge of the play-offs.

‘You only have to look at the results in the last two weeks to know how tough this division is, very, very competitive. There’s very little in it, that’s the truth, you watch teams game in, game out.

‘You look at Wycombe’s squad, our squad, there’s not much between the players, that would represent where it’s at.

‘We came up on the wrong side of it against Wycombe, we found a team that was probably a wounded animal off the back of a poor result and performance at Cheltenham.

‘They’d had a two-week break, we found them on a good day and for us one of our poorest. That’s why we are disappointed.

‘We’re going to be fine, we need people to stay with us, we need people to be realistic for where this group is at and what it is capable of.

‘We can absolutely be in and around it, but we do need their help and we do need their support.’

At Adams Park, Pompey were punished for a dreadful opening 45 minutes against Gareth Ainsworth’s side.

Anis Mehmeti broke the deadlock in the 14th minute, with Alfie Mawson also striking the post with the hosts well on top.

Garath McCleary completed the Blues’ misery in the 88th minute to seal a convincing 2-0 triumph.

Cowley added: ‘I’m really disappointed, we underperformed. We were really short in all the areas that we pride ourselves on.

‘When you play Wycombe, you know you are going to have to stand up, you have to win your duels, deal with their aerial prowess, get second balls - we didn’t do any of that.

‘We never gave ourselves a platform in the game during that first half, it was a really poor performance.

‘We made some changes at half-time and I thought we were a better team in the second half, but lacked the quality to find the important equalising goal.’