It's not the start to the League Two season most in royal blue envisaged - two points from the opening three games have left Pompey in the bottom six.

Manager Paul Cooks knows it's not what was expected and admits it's not good enough - but also insists the Blues have good enough players to climb the table quickly.

With Colchester visiting Fratton on Saturday, the pressure is on the Blues to get the season up and running with their first victory. Only draws with Carlisle and Crewe have yielded points so far and Tuesday's 2-0 defeat to Morecambe was a bitter and unexpected blow.

But there are signs of hope - Pompey played well enough and peppered the goal with shots, they just couldn't score.

Cook gave an honest assessment of the display to the club website, saying: 'It wasn’t a good night for us. We had a really disappointing start and there are no excuses. We’ve gone away and failed to score again — we all know that this game is about what you do in both boxes.

'You can’t give sloppy goals away like we did because all of a sudden you’re left chasing. The players are aware that we all have a responsibility and we weren’t able to stand up to that.

'It wasn’t our night, but I do have confidence in our players and believe that it will go our way soon. We have a lot of quality and after three games I would say there are players who are still learning.

'You don’t get too high or too low after three matches, but we’re aware that we have to improve. We want to be successful and we’re favourites for a reason, so Saturday’s game becomes a big one now.'

Cook also told the website the present players were good enough to get results turned around, adding: 'We do have a calibre of player here that means we should be doing better — the lads know that.'

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