Paul Cook believes Pompey are close to finding consistency. He says the players are working as hard as they can in training to put right the things that have prevented them winning regularly enough.

The Blues head to Cambridge on Saturday having won only one of their past five League Two games - a stat that's seen fall a little way off the top three, alkthough they do remain fifth.

Cook told The News: ‘Sort the small margins out and the big margins will take care of themselves. There’s that little bit of magic missing, that little bit of steel and aggression at both ends of the pitch — and that’s what we’ve worked on all week.

‘I thought in the first half against Notts County we were absolutely outstanding. The standard of ball, movement off the ball, everything, yet we found ourselves at 1-1 half-time.

‘If you are in Notts County’s dressing room, what are you going to do when you come out for the second half? Play the same way? Or are you going to try to stop the game? The fourth official put six minutes up, they could have put 26 minutes up for stoppages in that second half.

‘At half-time we should have been enjoying the first half because you cannot have the chances we had and not be in the lead. On the flip side of that, you cannot concede the goals we concede.

‘There’s a little bit of a concentration thing with some of us, a little bit of a complacency with us, a little bit of something magic missing. ‘But I feel we are very close at the minute.’

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