Portsmouth boss Kenny Jackett has identified the amount of points he feel his side must earn in the battle for automatic promotion with Luton Town, Barnsley and Sunderland.
The battle to clinch promotion from League One is expected to go down to the wire with just eight games remaining as nine points separate leaders Luton and Portsmouth in fourth place.
Both Barnsley and Sunderland make up the rest of the top four in second and third place respectively, with the season entering its climax in the coming weeks.
And despite being four points adrift of Barnsley, who occupy the final place that guarantees automatic promotion, Jackett feels there is still a chance for Pompey to secure a return to the Championship.
The Portsmouth boss has identified 90 points as the benchmark to secure promotion back to the second division and stressed his team must take it one game at a time to be successful.
However, Jackett also admitted it is hard to not look ahead to the upcoming games, especially when Portsmouth know they need a fixed number of points from their remaining games to be up there with their rivals.
“As far as you can, you have to prepare for one game at a time. All of your energy has to be focused on the next one”, Jackett told the club’s official website.
“But when you look at the big picture, it does change slightly because we’re going to need a high number of points from the 24 that are still available.
“We’re four and nine respectively off the sides that are currently second and first, so we have to keep pushing and know it’s still possible.
“But if you don’t get your own form sorted out and pay enough respect to your opponents, then it won’t happen.
“We’ve crept into the 70s now in terms of points and know that if we want to go up, we’ll need to be around 90.”
Portsmouth have secured 71 points from their 38 games in League One so far this season.
