'Derby game is Pompey's biggest for many years'

As I write more than 24 hours on, the sickener on Wednesday night remains on my mind.

Disappointment this season has been a regularity for Portsmouth fans and, although never easy to get over, is routinely something we have dealt with - but the manner in which devastation was handed to Pompey in this game will live long in the memory.

Having been there and watched us lose every one of the 15 games in which we have succumbed to defeat on the road this season, that is the worst I have felt leaving an away end.

West Bromwich Albion, Derby and Stoke all embarrassing in equal measure and unacceptably poor. Wednesday night was different.

You couldn't have asked for any more in terms of defensive performances from the likes of Regan Poole and Connor Ogilvie right up to 93-and-a-half minutes in.

A characterisation of the cruel mistress that we call the Championship embodied in a heartbeat - make one mistake with 20 seconds on the clock and face the devastating consequences.

I make it seven points that Pompey have let slip in time post the regulation 90 minutes this season.

That leaves little consideration other than to think that it's a mentality issue. Too many times a lead or a point has been let slip with moments to spare.

A green shoot from the congested Championship run-in is that attention turns very quickly to Saturday.

Simply the biggest game for Pompey in many, many years.

Win it and the season is defined by a critical victory and only a handful of points will then be needed from the remaining subsequent games.

Lose (or anything but win) and we will be left in nothing other than serious trouble.

It's worth pointing out there have been moments this season in which the pressure has been very much on for John Mousinho's side to get a result when really needing it.

My mind takes me back to the lead up to both the Cardiff and Stoke games this season where a seismic win was an absolute necessity. We delivered on both those nights.

What is also noteworthy is that Pompey are the best positioned team at this juncture of any of the other sides desperate to avoid the drop.

You would not want to swap either our run of games nor our league position with any other team within a handful of points below us.

Tomorrow, it is completely in our hands at Fratton Park. On many an occasion this team has delivered on home soil with the backing of some of the most vociferous support in the land.

It's time to do it again.