'There's no negativity' - Portsmouth keen to go under the radar as they reveal League One play-off hopes

The Blues know that the current 12-point gap to sixth-place Barnsley represents a giant hurdle that needs to be scaled.

But with 54 points left to play for heading into tonight’s League One visit of Burton to Fratton Park, John Mousinho & Co are remaining positive.

There’s no intention of shouting those ambitions from the roof tops, though.

Instead, Pompey want to quietly go about their business on a match-by-match basis and hopefully surprise a few teams along the way by stealth.

When asked about his play-off ambitions, Mousinho told The News: ‘I think expectations at the moment are we have to make sure that internally we just focus on the next game.

‘That’s the best thing for us. Not get too carried away either way. And that, obviously, is the message I’m relaying in the dressing room.

‘We all know externally that a couple of wins, or three wins in a week, can change the entire nature of the table, so it will be nice to stay within touching distance for as long as possible definitely.

‘Don’t get me wrong, there’s no negativity about how we’re approaching it.

‘We’re approaching it with confidence and positivity but at the same time we’re just making sure we take each game as it comes and focus really on that.’

The News revealed on Sunday that the Blues would need to up their current points-per-game total of 1.35 to 1.98 over their remaining 18 games to realistically stand a chance of securing a play-off place.