Boss reveals secret of Portsmouth's early-season success as Bristol Rovers are buried late on

Cowley’s men had to dig deep to continue their unbeaten start to the season, as two goals in the final eight minutes delivered a 3-1 success over Joey Barton’s side.

It follows a pattern of the Blues being stronger in the second half this season, with 12 of their 15 goals scored to date coming after the break.

The Pompey boss believes his players are now gaining returns to a pre-season training camp in Spain, in which his players were beasted with double sessions and plenty of hard running.

That graft didn’t relent on their return to England, but Cowley noted how the Blues are seeing a return for those efforts.

He said: ‘Look at how late we win in the game. That’s a credit to the players.

‘It shows the physical fitness of the boys.

‘In Spain we ran the boys really hard.

‘I said to them in there after the game, we do all that running and all that work for moments like that.

‘That’s because there is no better way to win a football match than late on.

‘You have to have the physical fitness to keep performing. I think physically we are in a much better place than we were last year, which is good.

‘For us the group, because we are such a good group who are humble and really want to be the best they can be, they allow us to push them really hard.

‘Sometimes when you’ve got a group that are whingers, moaners and sap the energy you end up doing less with him.

‘This group always want more. They don’t always enjoy it, but they know the benefits - and everyone saw those benefits against Bristol Rovers.’

The fitness of Pompey’s players was also exemplified in the intensity of their work and hard pressing of the ball which Bristol Rovers failed to contend with.

Cowley added: ‘Bristol Rovers came here, tried to build on the first line and they wanted to come here and dominate the ball.

‘They wanted to be really brave and they were that, but we just pressed the ball brilliantly.

‘We won the ball high so many times and it allowed us to get a really good position in the game.

‘We were constantly turning teams over which led to pressure, but it also led to that feeling of sustained pressure. That’s credit to the players.’