Portsmouth defender Lee Brown has warned his teammates they must not experience a promotion hangover going into next season, after suffering defeat against Sunderland last week.

Pompey had been amongst the front runners for a top two spot all season, but lost ground on Barnsley and Luton and ended up in the play-offs.

Despite having beaten Sunderland in the EFL Trophy at Wembley, as well as rattling three past them during their league encounter in December, they couldn't find a crucial goal in their second leg tie.

That meant the Black Cats went through to the final with a 1-0 aggregate score, leaving Kenny Jackett's men in League One for another season.

Brown has stated that people around the club are currently heartbroken, but that they cannot let that drag over to the start of the next campaign.

"The boys have put in a lot of effort over 10 months, so it’s heartbreaking," he told Portsmouth.co.uk.

"We’ve got to get over this quickly now. To a man, we’ve had a good season. The play-offs are a lottery and we had two tight games with Sunderland.

"It’s difficult to take, but we have to bounce back - and I think we’ll bounce back next season. Everyone’s hurting. People behind the scenes put in a lot of effort. There’s been a lot of effort put in across the course of the season."

He claimed they had to be strong next season as they hunt a third campaign in or around the top six.

"You’ve got to be strong in this game, deal with disappointment and go again. We won the Checkatrade Trophy, had a good FA Cup run and reached the play-offs. We are disappointed but we’ve got to go again. We can’t have an overspill from this into next season."

28-year-old Brown has only been with Pompey since last summer, following his departure from Bristol Rovers after 320 outings for the Gas.

The Verdict

He's quite right, they do need to focus quickly through the summer. There's going to be a lot of change though, a couple of key players could be on their way and new faces will be brought in.

That should bring some fresh attitudes, untainted by this season's disappointment.