Full mettle, Jackett

KENNY JACKETT will be feeling the heat if Portsmouth don’t kickstart their League One season at Rochdale this afternoon.

The Pompey boss (right) is currently in his fourth season at Fratton Park, having taken over from Paul Cook in the summer of 2017.

But after missing out in the play-offs for two successive seasons – failing to win a match in either of their semi-finals – the pressure is on him to go one better this time around. A 0-0 draw against Shrewsbury at Fratton Park on the opening day did little to ease the frustration ation of Portsmouth supporters.

And a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Brighton in the Carabao Cup failed to lighten the mood. od.

The South Coast club looked well set for a longawaited promotion back to the second tier of English football after winning eight and losing just three of their 13 games before the pandemic struck.

Ironically, Rochdale were the last team they beat beat. The Lancashire La side w were hammered 3-0 two weeks before lockdown e ended the season se prem prematurely after 35 matches.

That win came on February 28, meaning it’s now more than six months since the club last tasted a

League One victory. And although that’s a clearly misleading statistic, it’s one that Jackett would like to banish sooner rather than later.

Portsmouth lost out to Oxford United in their play-off semi-final, and Wycombe then went on to beat Oxford in the final and gain promotion to the Championship for the first time in the club’s history.

Both have far smaller budgets than Portsmouth, who have been further frustrated by the new League One salary cap.