You have to have more than talent to do well in League Two - and manager Andy Awford believes Pompey do have the necessary extra ingredients.
They won at Oxford on Saturday without being anywhere near their best and the boss reckons that shows the spirit in the camp and their ability to keep going until the end of a game.
He told The News: 'The players have got spirit, that is one thing they do possess — and they keep going. When I walked through the door one thing I made clear was they had to give their absolute everything — and they do.
‘If they don’t they won’t play, it’s as simple as that, they know that and that is how it is. On Saturday and in every game we’ve had this season I’ve had 125 per cent out of every single player. I keep going on about this, it’s not just the 18 in the match-day squad it’s everybody.
‘For instance, Adam Webster did not made the squad but was jumping up and down (in the dressing room). They are all in it together and that is a fantastic thing we want. We’ve got good strength in depth and there’s certainly a good team spirit.
‘I’m not just saying the spirit won it for us against Oxford — we played some football as well — but you need it. We are not always going to have it our own way and pass the ball and win three or four nil, that is not going to happen every week.
‘You have to come away and win ugly sometimes. It was a bit ugly first half but in the second half I thought we played really well. But you have got to have your team spirit — if you don’t, I believe you won’t win anything and we have got that in abundance.’
Pompey go to Stoke in the League Cup on Wednesday.
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