From the bottom six to the top four in 19 days. Pompey's improvement since their shaky start to the League Two campaign has been rapid.

And there is no reason they can't continue the upturn and make sure they are in the top three - which is, of course, where everyone wants to end - for the rest of the campaign.

Paul Cook's men took two points from the first three games, a spell which included one very poor performance and one quite mediocre one. Since then it's been maximum points - nine from three games - and three clean sheets.

Crawley probably arrived at Fratton Park yesterday fancying their chances of an upset after their own decent start to theseason. The surprise was how open their formation was - a far cry from the parked-bus formation they adopted at HOME to Pompey when they hosted Cook's team in August last year.

Within 12 minutes, the question of whether Dermot Drummy's Reds could live with the Blues had been answered with an emphatic No.

A blistering team move involving Carl Baker, Milan Lalkovic and Enda Stevens had been finished off by Curtis Main for his first Fratton Park goal, and Gary Roberts had curled a loose ball beyond Crawley's hapless keeper Yusuf Mersin after the visitors' attempts to muck about with the ball deep in their own half had been punished by Pompey's impressive pressing, particularly by Danny Rose.

At 2-0 up so early in the game you wondered how many Pompey could score. Crawley looked shell-shocked and Pompey's tails were up - the memory of those games last season when they just couldn't break through stubborn defences a distant memory.

Roberts and Main continued to lead the charge and either could have added the third - and eventually Main did just that, putting away his second of the afternoon when Mersin failed to hold a deflected Lalkovic shot.

Pompey's fans were loving it, enjoying the luxury of not having to wait til late in proceedings for a home victory to be wrapped up, as they'd had to a fortnight earlier against Colchester.

If there was a disappointment it was that they didn't add any more goals in the second half.

Crawley improved, albeit only once the game was lost, but Pompey were always in charge and probably could have scored more had they carried on in top gear.

Conor Chaplin, Kal Naismith and Michael Smith all came on - demonstrating the wealth of attacking talent Cook has at his disposal (remember we didn't even see Kyle Bennett or Nowl Hunt on the pitch) and Smith had the best opportunity to make it 4-0, running on to a through-ball in the dying minutes and doing everything right apart from finishing, instead dragging a shot wide with only Mersin to beat.

September's fixture list looks relatively kind to Pompey. It brings clashes with Wycombe (currently 22nd). Accrington (21st), Barnet (16th) and Blackpool, two at home, two away, and on the form seen against Crawley, it's not over-optimstic to expect a return of about ten points.

That would cement Pompey's place in the top three, ie where we want to be and where we want to stay.

Because, while fourth place is a lovely spot given that the defeat at Morecambe left the Blues 19th, it's not where anyone wants to end up.

Pompey (4-2-3-1): Forde; Evans, T.Davies, Burgess, Stevens; Rose, Doyle (c); Baker, Roberts (Naismith 72), Lalkovic (Smith 82); Main (Chaplin 65). Subs not used: O’Brien, Clarke, Linganzi, Hunt

Referee: Ben Toner

Attendance: 16,347 (435 away fans)

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