Christian Burgess wants Portsmouth's early south-coast derby tempo to be repeated against Bolton
The Blues created numerous chances in the opening 20 minutes but suffered a 4-0 Carabao Cup defeat against arch-rivals Southampton at Fratton Park on Tuesday.
There could have been a different outcome had John Marquis’ sweet strike not struck a post or efforts from Burgess himself and Brett Pitman found the net prior to Danny Ings’ 21st-minute opener.
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Hide AdAnd Burgess believes similar fast starts to what was displayed against their closest rivals will see the Blues seize the advantage in matches to come.
Pompey are back in league action on Saturday, with bottom-side Wanderers the visitors to Fratton Park.
It's been a tale of frustration for Kenny Jackett's men in the division to date, with just one win from seven outings.
Yet, Burgess is hopeful the positives from the early exchanges against Southampton can be replicated as they welcome Keith Hill's side for a crunch fixture.
He said: ‘There were positives to take from the game.
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Hide Ad‘If we start most games with that tempo then we should be looking to be 1-0 or 2-0 ahead and that’s only a positive for us.
‘We need to try to replicate that in our games to come.
‘Things went for us a little bit early on, we played some good stuff (against Southampton).
‘A couple of key passes and making the right decisions led to chances.
‘You get corners from there, you attack it, the crowd are up, everything is going well and you get momentum from there.
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Hide Ad'It’s a massive game, but all games for this club are massive.
‘We’ve got to try to take positives and momentum into the game and see if we can get a result.'
Bolton’s start to the season has been a turbulent one to say the least.
They were deducted 12 points in the summer, after entering administration, and only had four senior players on their books as the campaign got under way.
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Hide AdHowever Football Ventures completed a takeover of the club last month, with a number of players recruited before the transfer window closed.
And Burgess is pleased to see Bolton getting back on track.
He said: ‘It shows the danger of many clubs out there how close you can be to getting into financial difficulty.
‘Thankfully for football itself they have managed to get out of it and rebuild their squad.
‘It was a huge disadvantage the points when they started the season.
‘Make no mistake, they’ll be a good side on Saturday and they’ve got some really good players.’
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