There might not to be too many Pompey fans who agree with him after a two month period that has brought only one League One win - but Kenny Jackett still believes the Blues can put pressure on the top two in the race for automatic promotion.

Ronan Curtis's header was not enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat at The Valley as goals by Joe Aribo and Lyle Taylor either side of half-time won it for Charlton - who are fast closing the gap on fourth-placed Pompey, with Luton, Barnsley and Sunderland getting ever further away in front of them.

Jackett told the Pompey website afterwards: 'The winning goal was scored when we were down to 10 men because Gareth Evans went into the boards and had to go off for a bit. There were some key moments after that — Jamal had one chance following a very good ball from Brett. We did everything we could to get back into the game.

'It is those fine margins that define football matches and they just didn’t go our way on this occasion. Charlton were excellent in midfield and their better players are in that area — they played to their strengths.

'It’s not necessarily the formation, but the quality of their players and it’s something we need to learn from if we do play them again. With 10 games to go, we might need to win eight or nine of them, but you have to believe that you can do that.

'If we can build some momentum — which I do think we’re capable of — then we can put pressure on the top two.'

If Pompey are to win anything like that number of games over the final ten, you'd think they have to start with a maximum haul from Walsall, where they visit on Tuesday night.

Pompey: MacGillivray; Thompson, Burgess, Clarke, Brown; Naylor; Lowe, Evans (c) (Pitman 76), Close (Donohue 61), Curtis; Hawkins (Vaughan 61). Subs not used: Bass, Walkes, Haunstrup, Solomon-Otabor

Referee: Roger East

Attendance: 14,451 (3,097 Pompey fans)

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