The no-nonsense Portsmouth verdict on Blues’ play-off hopes as Derby County, Peterborough United & Bolton Wanderers battle for top six spot

That’s the verdict of The News’ Blues writer Jordan Cross, who believes the top six will be beyond John Mousinho’s men this term.

Following their 1-1 draw against MK Dons on Good Friday, Pompey currently sit five points away from sixth-placed Peterborough.

But as the campaign enters it’s final weeks the clock is ticking for sides to make a late charge into the promotion race.

And following the Blues’ slight set-back at Stadium MK, it’s a result which wil now require the Mousinho;s side to win at least five of their final six games of the season to break into the top six, according to Cross.

Here’s what he had to say on the latest episode of the Pompey Q&A: ‘How long can they go? It’s something we’ve been talking about amongst the press is how long can they keep the season alive.

‘That’s been the reason of enthusiasm that they’ve kept it alive for this long. If they can keep it alive to within the last couple of games, I think that’s a real success and it’s certainly successful for John Mousinho.

‘When John came in Pompey were on 31 points from 23 games, they’ve now accumulated 31 points from six games fewer. That’s how much he’s improved things. They’re going just short of two points per game.

‘In terms of making the play-offs at two points-per-game, that puts them on 74 points - which is the average to get into the top six over the past 20 years.

‘It’s not going to be enough this year, that’ll be only seven points more than Derby, Peterborough and Bolton have got already. It’s going to be above that and by quite a bit.

‘What do Pompey need to do? There’s no wriggle room left and they probably need to win five or maybe even all six of their games. It’s a massive, massive ask and in reality the play-offs will be beyond them.

‘If they can keep it going and keep ambitions alive for as long as possible then that would represent success.

‘You never know because you could have a team or two blow up.

‘I think it could be a high total and if Pompey were to win five games that would get them to around 77 points.

‘Pressure does funny things at this point in the season and one or two teams could blow up but you're looking for them to blow up and for Pompey to go on this mesmerising, unbelievable run for it all to fall into place.

‘Let’s give credit to John for keeping it alive until this point because we never thought that would be the case when they were 15th in January.

‘Hopefully they can get a few wins, ask a few questions and keep it going for as long as possible. Lets get those players in over the summer and go again next term.’