Winger says Pompey have to buck their ideas up
Ricky Holmes admits that Pompey are running low on confidence following three successive defeats.
But the winger wants the Blues to stand up and fight rather than feel sorry for themselves.
A 3-0 reverse at Rochdale has left them just two points above the League Two trap door with seven games left to play.
It would have been goals scored keeping them out of the bottom two if 10-man AFC Wimbledon had not managed a last-gasp equaliser at Northampton on the same night.
But Holmes feels that Pompey cannot afford to simply hope that their relegation rivals will slip up.
He said: “We can’t keep relying on Northampton dropping points. If we don’t start showing some character then they’ll climb above us.
“Everyone needs to buck their ideas up because at the end of the day we also have to think about our own careers.
“We need to start believing we can win games – we beat Rochdale 3-0 at our place earlier in the season.
“You could see the confidence in their play compared to ours – we’re drained at the minute because we’re on a bad run of form.
“But we’ve got a tight group and maybe it needs one of the senior players to say something and make everyone realise how serious this situation is.”
Holmes was particularly disappointed that two of Rochdale’s goals game from set-pieces.
He said: “Coming to play the side at the top of the league is never easy, but we have to be more aggressive from those situations.
“They’re a good footballing side and if they carve you open that’s one thing, but we were a bit naïve to concede the way we did.
“We know our positions and the gaffer tells us where we need to be, so we must have the desire to win those headers.”