McGeehan confident ahead of a possible match-up with U’s in divisional play-offs

CAMERON MCGEEHAN is convinced Pompey were on course to achieve automatic promotion from League One.

And now the midfielder is confident the Blues can seal their return to the Championship via the play-offs.

It’s looking likely that the 2019-20 season will be curtailed by third-tier clubs when they vote tomorrow.

Should 51 per cent of sides choose so then league positions will be decided by an unweighted points-per-game formula. Promotion, relegation and the play-offs will still be retained.

If that’s the case Pompey will meet Oxford in the semi-finals of a traditional four-team tournament. They’ll then face Wycombe or Fleetwood for the right to join Coventry and Rotherham in the Championship.

Before the season shut down amid the coronavirus crisis, McGeehan was bullish the Blues would finish inside the top two.

They sat fourth in the table but only two points behind the second-placed Millers.

And despite Pompey having never won a play-off game in the club's history, McGeehan feels Jackett’s men have the quality to go up.

The on-loan Barnsley man said: ‘We'd put a good run together before the Peterborough defeat and I just had a good feeling about the players and the squad.

‘The lads all believed it was going to be the case because we've got a massive fan base and I felt we could go and do it when the pressure would be off.

‘We still had Rotherham to play away and I just fancied us knowing what the league is like. Sometimes teams at the top struggle under the pressure in the final few games and it's not easy to see it out.

‘I thought we'd have been dark horses to go up.

‘Last season, Luton might have had a bit of a wobble had there been a few more games. You see that in every league because it's the hardest bit.

‘It would have been an exciting finish and I just fancied us, knowing what it's like with Barnsley last season.

‘We've got a very good team and a very good manager who knows how to get out of this league.

'If it is two or three play-off games then we will give it everything that we have got.

‘On our best day, we're good enough to beat anyone. Obviously, the play-offs can be a bit of a lottery but it would be very exciting.’

Pompey drew 1-1 with Oxford when the two sides met at Fratton Park in October.

While McGeehan knows Karl Robinson’s men will pose a threat, he believes the Blues would be triumphant.

He added: ‘We'd just concentrate on ourselves. Pompey are definitely the biggest club in terms of that group who'll be in the play-offs.

‘I would fancy us to go on and win it. I haven't seen a lot of Oxford to be fair, but if we focus on ourselves and play well then that's all that matters.

'That's how we look at games anyway.’