Marlon Pack exclusive: Bristol City lesson central to Portsmouth promotion push | OneFootball

Portsmouth captain Marlon Pack has revealed that an emphasis on team spirit and togetherness - a lesson he learned from his success at Bristol City - has been central to their League One promotion push, in an exclusive interview with Football League World courtesy of SkyBet.

Pompey moved six points clear at the top of the table with a 2-0 win over second-place Bolton Wanderers on Monday evening to continue their brilliant start to John Mousinho's first full season at the helm.

With Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town, and Sheffield Wednesday going up last season, it always looked as though the 2023/24 campaign would be a good opportunity to get back to the Championship and, so far, the Fratton Park outfit have grabbed hold of that with both hands.

Pack knows exactly what it takes to win promotion from the third tier. In 2014/15 he won the League One and EFL Trophy double with Bristol City in a dominant campaign, which saw the Robins finish top of the table on 99 points.

"Team spirit is massive"

Speaking exclusively to Football League World courtesy of SkyBet, Pack revealed that the importance of team spirit was one of the key lessons he'd taken from that success and indicated that it was helping Pompey's attempt to follow in City's footsteps nearly a decade on.

Asked whether any of the lessons he was drawing on any of the lessons learned from his time with the Ashton Gate outfit, he said: “In the teams I’ve been successful with, I think that team spirit is massive. As a group this year, we've done a lot of off-field activities - we've made sure that there's been a togetherness.

"I think that can help - especially when you fall behind in games, which we have done a lot this year, and we have picked up quite a few last-minute winners or equalisers.

"I think those off-the-field activities, just the camaraderie, the humour, the banter around the dressing room, helps to forge a collective and good bond throughout the group.

“When you've got the momentum and you're riding with it, to continue at what you're doing, we've done that tremendously well and we keep driving standards and forcing each other to be as good as we can.”

"The message is always about complacency"

Pompey have lost just once in League One all season but there will have been concerns among the fanbase that the 4-0 defeat at the hands of Blackpool late last month could derail their promotion push.

It hasn't as Mousinho's side have responded with three wins on the bounce - beating Burton Albion, Northampton Town, and then Bolton.

“We’re nearly halfway through the season, and especially when we’ve started so well, the message always is about complacency," explained Pack. "That was the message after the Blackpool game, which was a disappointing result and our first loss of the season.

"The message was for us to continue doing what we’re doing – as a group, we’ve battled against that complacency, there’s a real eagerness to learn and work hard for each other, and that’s why we’ve started the way we have done.”