Boss pleased that leaky defence has been plugged
A point against bottom-of-the-table Northampton might not be enough to satisfy the Fratton faithful.
But Richie Barker is relieved that his side have stopped leaking goals.
Despite conceding more than any other team in League Two, the Blues have kept clean sheets in each of their last two games.
They followed up a Boxing Day triumph over Dagenham & Redbridge with a goalless stalemate against the managerless Cobblers.
And Barker believes that Pompey are slowly starting to move in the right direction.
The Blues boss said: “That’s now two clean sheets in a row – which hasn’t been done before this season.
“It’s also four points from two games and there have been positive performances from some individuals.
“If you keep conceding goals then you’re not going to get anywhere. But we’ve limited two teams – admittedly one of those is bottom of the league – to very few chances.
“There weren’t many clean sheets before we came, so that’s something to build on.
“It doesn’t always make the game entertaining, but you can be entertaining and finish in the bottom two.
“We’ve all got to recognise that things have to be built slowly because what we’ve got at the minute isn’t great.
“It’s a start and if we go six, seven or eight unbeaten then no-one really remembers that we only drew 0-0 against Northampton.
“You have to begin somewhere, so we’ll carry on being organised and trying to do the right things.”
Pompey had the best opportunities against Northampton, with Jed Wallace striking the woodwork early in the game.
Barker said: “We weren’t great, but hit the crossbar and missed a couple of chances – we were by far the better team.
“I’m not sure if our quality in the final third was where it should be, but I think the players have worked hard.”