Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley explains why recent international break immediately after Sunderland thumping was good thing

And the Pompey boss revealed how he spent the time wisely in his eyes as he aims to give the Blues the best chance of success this season.

Many would’ve thought the two-week hiatus from League One action was far from ideal after Pompey ended their winless run with an impressive display against Sunderland.

The Blues swept past the then league leaders to record an eye-opening 4-0 victory at a rain-soaked Fratton Park.

But 13 days will have passed before they return to divisional matters at Rotherham this weekend, after Saturday’s Cheltenham game was called off because of international call-ups.

Tonight’s match against Sutton United in the Papa John’s Trophy breaks the wait between league fixtures.

Yet Cowley isn’t too despondent about missing a chance to build on that impressive showing against the Black Cats straight away.

Instead, he believes the international break has provided the ideal opportunity to spend quality time on the training pitch with his team.

Meanwhile, precious time to develop the bond between his players away from Roko has also been the order of the day.

Cowley said: ‘I think when you win as convincingly as we did and play as well as we did against Sunderland, you naturally want to back that up with another performance.

‘Unfortunately, that’s not what the fixtures have allowed us to do.

‘The international break arrived and it meant we couldn’t play the game against Cheltenham

‘We’ve had a good week on the grass, and I believe last week was a really good week for us.

‘We spent a lot of time on the training ground and we also spent a little bit of time away from here as well.

‘We went go-karting last Thursday with the group which gave us a good opportunity to do some team bonding and spend some time together.

‘When I look at the promotions that I’ve had in my career, and the teams I achieved them with, the one thing they all had in common was a high spirit and a strong togetherness.

‘You have to work at human relationships and they do build over time. The more time you spend together, and the more experiences you go through, the stronger those relationships become.

‘It’s such an important quality to have if you want to be a successful team.’