Why Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley loves adversity

Pompey boss Danny Cowley has paid tribute to his side’s performances amid adversity this term.
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The Blues are currently enjoying an eight-game unbeaten run, after extending their streak against Ipswich on Saturday.

In that period they have won six matches, allowing them to climb back into play-off contention.

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But it’s not the first time Pompey have embarked on such a formidable run, after going 10 matches without loss in the build up to Christmas.

Remarkably during both, the Fratton Park side have been plagued by injuries – with Sean Raggett the only fit centre-back during the first, while the club currently have only 13 senior outfield players available.

And Cowley has highlighted the comparisons between the two.

‘I think both runs came in adversity. I think the 10-game run before Christmas we had one centre-half available and in the Gillingham game, we had none,’ he said.

‘In this run, we’ve just been incredibly short on senior outfield players. We’ve been particularly light in midfield, but this has been the challenge.’

Pompey are currently eight games unbeaten going into tonight's game at Plymouth.   Picture: Malcolm BrycePompey are currently eight games unbeaten going into tonight's game at Plymouth.   Picture: Malcolm Bryce
Pompey are currently eight games unbeaten going into tonight's game at Plymouth. Picture: Malcolm Bryce
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It’s been reported that Pompey opponents on Saturday, Ipswich, have operated on a budget that is three times their own.

This was reflected in the Blues’ decision to largely sign free agents last summer and additional loan deals in January.

Although this wasn’t their exclusive approach, with Joe Morrell and Denver Hume arriving for transfer fees – Cowley explained how their strategy was the only way to achieve success this campaign.

He added: ‘For us, we know there’s a number of clubs at the top-end of this division that we can’t compete with financially who have maybe double our budget.

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‘When you’re in that position, you have two options. You can either go with a bigger squad, but with lesser quality players, and I think if we did that we wouldn’t be able to achieve what we wanted to.

‘Or, you try to go with a smaller squad. For us to achieve what we wanted, we had to take some gambles and risks – and we chose the latter option.

‘I’m just proud of the boys. We probably knew, for us this season, with a small squad we had to really stay on the right side of injuries.

‘We haven’t had too many injuries this year, but when we’ve had them they’ve been in the same positions, really. We always really plan for four injuries.

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‘We know at any given time, the average is around four injuries in a squad of 22. With our squad of, probably, 22 we’ve had some long-term injuries with Reeco (Hackett) and Kieron (Freeman) who unfortunately we won’t see again this season.’

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