Pre-season? Done. Actual season? Days away. And John Mousinho says things are positive at Pompey as the League One opener against Bristol Rovers comes into view.
The Pompey boss says the Blues' build-up has ticked plenty of boxes and he and his players are now eager to get the competitive matches under way - starting at home to Rovers on Saturday.
Mousinho told the Pompey website: 'The whole period has worked out great and we’ve ticked a lot of boxes in terms of what we’ve wanted to achieve. That’s from the camp away in Spain at the beginning of the month, the training sessions since and also the games we’ve played.
'So everyone’s feeling positive as we head into the League One season, although only time will tell how we fare. The lads have looked really fit and now we’re just looking to get a little bit sharper heading into Saturday.
'There’s a lot of excitement building around the club – I think there has been since the back-end of last season. We’ve made quite a few signings and the Fratton faithful will be looking forward to seeing them in league action, when it really counts.'
The final friendly ended in a defeat at home to Bristol City but Mousinho felt it was a good test that helearned plenty from, which will help him make final preparations for the season proper.
Mousinho added: 'It was two sides that wanted to play football and Bristol City are an excellent side – I’m sure they’ll do well in the Championship this season. To stand toe-to-toe with them for 90 minutes was pleasing and we stood up to the physical challenge well.
'Perhaps we tried to play a bit too much in the first half and weren’t practical enough, which we addressed pretty well. We then looked a lot sharper going forward after the break and created more, which was very pleasing.
'This was another test for us against opposition from a higher division and provided a good signpost for where we are. We’ve conceded from a corner and that’s something we’ll have a look at. We’ve got a lot of time to work on set-pieces going into the Bristol Rovers game.'