An ankle injury brought the start of his Pompey career to a grinding halt.
And now James Bolton is looking to make up for lost time by helping his new club climb the League One standings.
The right-back provided the assist for Brett Pitman’s winning goal last week with a fine cross from out wide.
That ended a disappointing run of five successive league games without a victory – and has left Bolton hungry for more.
He said: “It was a frustrating start after getting a couple of injuries and not really having a pre-season.
“But now I’ve got a couple of games under my belt and hopefully we can push on from the win last Saturday.
"Being at a club this size is great and now I’m looking to push on."
“The ankle’s feeling absolutely fine now and I want to keep building my match fitness by getting more games.
“It was a much-needed win and clean sheet against Bolton and you don’t want to keep shooting yourself in the foot.
“Being at a club this size is great and now I’m looking to push on. Hopefully I’ve got my best years ahead of me.”
Pompey have used plenty of different defensive combinations so far this term and Bolton wants a consistent unit to be found.
He said: “It can make a massive difference to have all that communication that comes with building up partnerships.
“You get in those positions that you need to be in and it can only help us to have a settled back four for a run of games.”