Pompey are bottom of the Championship and there's a fair bit of doom and gloom among the fan base - but you won't find John Mousinho feeling sorry for himself as he plots to try to secure a home win over Preston North End this weekend.
A draw at Hull offered some hope - and so in a way did the display in a 1-0 loss at Plymouth in midweek - but the manager knows results are what counts now. And how Pompey need one against PNE.
Mosuinho is upbeat, telling the club media: 'I feel very positive about our performance on Tuesday night and our prospects going into this weekend. That contrasts with our other midweek away games at Stoke and Cardiff, when I felt dejected about how we played and the lack of desire shown.
'There was a lot of frustration that we came away from Plymouth with nothing to show, bit still plenty of belief. I think we can take confidence and the general vibe I get from the lads is that they know we’re nearly there.
'We’re doing things a lot better in certain moments of games and there's a marked difference from where we have been previously. I feel like we’ve looked much more solid defensively, but haven’t given up any attacking threat in doing so.'
Preston are not much better off than Pompey themselves points-wise and the Blues boss added: 'It doesn’t really feel bigger than any other game and they’re all massively important for us. We have to make sure we don’t take what happened on Tuesday too badly and that we dust ourselves down.
'It would be great to get that win at home, so we have to be ready to attack our opponents and be on it for the full 90 minutes. Preston are a well established Championship side and in Paul Heckingbottom, have a manager who clearly knows what he’s doing.'