Paul Cook is fairly relaxed about where Pompey will end the season - but he admits Satuday's clash with Plymouth is huge.

The top three looked a distant dream for Cook's men a few weeks ago but six wins from the past nine games have given them a chance of grabbing an automatic promotion spot.

They'll go above Plymouth - currently fifth - if they beat them at Fratton on Saturday and Cook can't wait, though he is philosophical about the chance of the Blues having to try to get up via the play-offs instead of the top three.

Cook told The News: 'Plymouth have had a great season and it will be a packed at Fratton Park. The atmosphere is going to be electric. Plymouth have had a great season. They’ve been a front-runner. It’s a tough game for us.

‘But this is what we want. These are the big games we want. It’s going to be electric. That’s what we are here for. We wanted to win the game on Saturday and go into that match on a run. Now can we put four wins together? Can we keep going unbeaten?

‘What a great game for everyone connected with Portsmouth Football Club.

‘There’s nothing achieved but we must believe in what we’re doing. We’ve won three. We’re on 69 points and there’s a lot of points to play for. If you’d offered me that with six games to go we’d have taken that.

‘There’s other teams around us doing well. Accrington Stanley are doing fantastically well. Credit to them. Bristol Rovers are on a great run, Oxford are flying. In my opinion, there’s not too many people who want to say well done to someone else.

‘Accrington may amass points we can’t reach. That would be a fantastic achievement for John (Coleman) and his team. Bristol Rovers — Darrell (Clarke) got manager of the month. Chris Wilder at Northampton. Michael Appleton at Oxford. They’ve done great.

‘Derek Adams at Plymouth has had a fantastic season. They’ve been there to be shot at all season. If we fall short, I won’t have a problem with that. We’ll go in the play-offs, if we can do that, and do our best. We will keep working to where this club wants to be.’

Follow @Pompey_Fans

Click here to sign up for an account and reserve your username! You can then post on the Forum and add your comments to articles

Photo: Action Images

Portsmouth Polls