Pompey are two games into the season - and it's fair to say that most fans would have said 'yes please' if offered a point from Elland Road and a League Cup exit at the hands of Millwall in those two opening tussles.

The display at Elland Road went beyond what most hoped for - even if did show up a defensive frgaility or two. But the effort against Millwall, from a much-changed starting XI, showed the fairly urgent need for further strengthening of the squad.

Scratch beneath the surface of John Mousinho's first choice XI - a few of whom, admittedly, are out injured - and there does not seem to be a lot of back-up, at least of the quality that can keep the Blues ticking over in what will be a tough first few weeks of Championship football.

Fans will hope - and most will be confident - work to continue strengthening the squad is going on furiously and will soon bear more fruit. And only when the window shuts in just over a fortnight will it be easier to judge hoe well equipped Pompey are for the challenge ahead - and how likely they are to go on giving the top teams a fright, as they did in Yorkshire.

Mousinho, for his part, seems as relaxed as ever about who he has available to him and how the work in the market is progressing.

And speaking to the club media after the Millwall tie, he pointed out his side - not at anything like full strength - had at least given the Lions something to think about.

He told the website: 'We’re disappointed to lose the game, although overall the effort levels from us were excellent. The side applied themselves well and considering the number of changes that we made, I was pretty pleased with the performance.

'We got punished for one moment when we gave the ball away in the first half, then we huffed and puffed in the second. We’d got ourselves into a good head of steam and then all the substitutions and other stoppages just took the momentum out of the game.

'There were a couple of dangerous moments from set-pieces, but we weren’t clinical enough in the final third. It looked like Terry Devlin had scored – I think he thought he had – when the ball hit the side netting and Ryley Towler put one just wide at the end.

'It was a very even cup tie that was settled by fine margins and Millwall were just slightly better in those key moments. There are plenty of positives for us to build upon as we return to league duties against Luton at the weekend.'

Photo: Action Images

LillianTRice added 08:40 - Aug 20 Pompey went through many battles and the battles were quite successful, however there were still some problems related to the formation so Pompey could not foresee the https://tiny-fishing.com/ problem that occurred during the battle.
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