by Mark Storey
Michael Appleton insisted Pompey’s loss at Barnsley has not buckled their spirit.
Two late goals put paid to any hopes of a point for the 10-man Blues who had Dave Kitson sent off.
The result means Pompey, docked 10 points for going into administration, are third-bottom in the table, just one point ahead of basement club Doncaster.
But Appleton believes the Blues still have the belief to avoid the drop to League One.
And despite the defeat there was encouragement for the Blues boss after a fruitful meeting with the club's new administrator, Trevor Birch, on the morning of the match.
Appleton hopes Birch will be able to persuade the Football League to allow Pompey, who had just three on the bench at Barnsley, to recruit more players.
He said: “I’ve just said to the players in the dressing-room that we can lose a game on a poor decision, a poor technical error or not being right tactically, but as long as we keep our brains and our hearts, then we’ll have the belief we will need over the next couple of months.
“I thought the sending off was harsh. Kits was trying to stop the ball being played down the line and their player has kicked the bottom of his foot.
“After we went down to 10 men it was damage limitation, really. But in saying that I felt we looked very comfortable until they scored their goal. The shape was good and we were organised.
“The goal was a little bit disappointing. There were a couple of small errors in the build up to it.
“But we move on – we have bigger fish to fry over the next couple of months. And hopefully soon we’ll have more players to utilise. Hopefully someone will show some common sense at the Football League and allow us to bring players in so we can be competitive.
“I’ve spoken to the new administrator and the first thing he said to me was that the first thing he’ll do is look to address getting more players in the building. That was really positive. We just want to a level playing field.
“March is a huge month for us and hopefully we can get the points we need to stay in the league.”