Former Portsmouth midfielder Alan McLoughlin has expressed that he thinks Kenny Jackett's side are in for a difficult season.

This comes after Pompey scraped past Stevenage in the first round of the Carabao Cup, winning on penalties after an unconvincing performance saw them draw the initial 90 minutes, 3-3.

Portsmouth have lost out in the play-offs in the past two league campaigns now, and something has to change if Jackett's side are to earn promotion to the Championship.

However, the South Coast side have managed to keep some of their key players ahead of the new season, including Ronan Curtis who, on his day, is one of the best attackers in the division.

Despite that, McLoughlin is predicting a "long" and "difficult" season for Jackett and his team as they get ready for another campaign in League One.

Speaking to BBC Solent, via Portsmouth News after the victory over Stevenage, McLoughlin said: "I certainly think there’s a lot of things to work on, it’s going to be a long, difficult season.

"But there were some positives."

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The Verdict

It's been a tough few years for Portsmouth, and the club's supporters have experienced a lot of tough moments what with all of the play-off defeats.

Now, they'll be aiming to go one better and try and make sure they don't need the play-offs, although it's going to be a very tough ask especially with the lack of recruitment that Pompey have done this summer.

Jackett will have to find a way to get his team firing in front of goal again in the league campaign, but more importantly he has to try and worm out the defensive errors from his backline, if he can do this then they have a chance at promotion once more.