'The fans of Portsmouth deserved more' - Danny Cowley welcomes immediate chance to put things right against Plymouth

Pompey take on high-flying Plymouth tonight at Fratton Park just three days after home fans had to endure the U’s’ first every victory at PO4.

The away win – and the Blues’ third straight League One defeat – was greeted by boos from the Fratton faithful as they registered their anger at the result.

And the chorus of disapproving voices were quickly followed by an apology from the head coach, who believed Blues supporters deserved more than what they had just witnessed.

The defeat was Pompey’s fourth in a row in all competitions as Cowley’s side struggle for form.

Yet they have a chance to rectify those issues more or less straight away with the visit of Plymouth.

The Pilgrims will go into the game with confidence, after back-to-back victories against Sheffield Wednesday and AFC Wimbledon moved them up to fourth in the table.

Cowley will be well aware of the threat they pose.

But he believes his players are ready to put the pain they personally felt from the Cambridge defeat to good use – and is grateful for the chance to put the wrongs on show on Saturday to bed immediately.

Cowley said: ‘It’s a really good opportunity.

‘We’ve felt the pain of the last 48 hours, and it would have been a long week had we not had the Plymouth game on Tuesday, so we’re grateful for this opportunity to put the wrongs right.

‘We came up short on Saturday and that hurt us all, we were disappointed with the performance and ultimately the outcome.

‘The fans of Portsmouth deserved more than we gave them on Saturday and that’s the reality.

‘We have an opportunity now to learn a lot from that game. When you have a disappointment it’s important to work out why it happened.

‘We always try to stay very consistent with our routine and method, but we’ve had a good opportunity to review the game and speak with the players and we’ve been able to turn our attention and thoughts to Plymouth on Tuesday night.’