Pompey head into only their second attempt at winning promotion via the play-offs with boss Paul Cook saying it's an occasion to be cherished.

They host Plymouth in Thursday night's semi-final first leg knowing they could be three games from elevation to League One - or close to heartbreak.

There's no middle ground with play-offs and many Pompey fans still look back in anger at a two-leg defeat to Leicester in 1993 in the old division one play-offs.

Cook, though, is upbeat about the tie and says the fact Pompey have these games to look forward to prove it's been a successful season.

He told the club website: 'It’s a time to celebrate that we’re in the play-offs and now we’ll be trying to get to Wembley. Games will swing on moments of magic or refereeing decisions, but the more you get involved with these big matches, the more you want to experience them.

'We’ve had fantastic occasions here against Derby, Ipswich and Bournemouth and we’ve beaten a lot of sides away from home, so I’m not so sure that big games are a problem for us. We put a brand new squad together very quickly last summer and nobody said it would be easy, but the target at a place like this will always be promotion.

'The best teams are the ones that finish at the top and although we weren’t good enough to finish in the automatic places, our hunger has been there since day one. The club’s in a great position off the pitch, but the most important thing going forward is that we get stronger and stronger.'

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