Such is the chaos and closeness of League Two that Pompey - who head into the weekend in fifth place - are closer in points to 15th place than third.

It's why Blues fans will be hoping Paul Cook is right when he says he feels his team are about to show they're going in the right direction.

He also says the next 10 games will determine where Pompey's season can end up - which means the pressure is on to follow last weekend's disappointing home defeat to Notts County with some return, preferrably three points, at Cambridge's Abbey Stadium.

Cambridge are 19th but the sobering fact that goes with that statistic is that Shaun Derry's team are only five points behind Pompey. A win at Cambridge for the third season in a row would have Cook's men looking up not down again - anything less could have anyone from Mansfield to Morecambe catching up with them, with two weeks to come before the next league game.

Cook told The News: ‘We’ve had 14 games, there are 32 to go. The reality of it is we look like we could become a good team — and over the next period of games it is important we become that team.

‘It is important we eradicate certain errors. The reality is when people scream it is not good enough, do you know what, it probably isn’t. But within what we are doing we are very close to being able to say we are alright now.'

Keeper David Forde heads to Cambridge acknowledging that the Blues need to turn dominance of games into victories.

He told the club website: 'We need to rectify what happened last week when we go to Cambridge. The performance and chances were certainly there, but it was a disappointing result and that’s what counts.

'It seems to be a pattern of the season so far and we’ve got to eradicate individual errors, while sometimes sloppiness and complacency slips into our play. The manager has been working hard on that this week. He’s made us aware of the issues and it’s up to us to remedy things this weekend.

'I’ve been in football a long time and know that we need to take our chances when we’re dominating games.'

Pompey will not only face a former midfielder in the Cambridge dugout - Derry - but another one in the oppo midfield, James Dunne, who has admitted he is keenly looking forward to trying to show the Blues they were wrong to let him go last season.

Cook is unlikely to make many changes from the side that lost to the Magpies, although the likes of Curtis Main, Danny Rose and Milan Lalkovic may all think they have a chance of forcing their way into the starting line-up.

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