Portsmouth are right amongst the contenders for a play-off spot in League One right now and Danny Cowley will not want his side to falter in their bid for promotion in the second half of the season.

In a bid to stay up towards where they want to be then, the former Lincoln boss has told The News about how he plans to utilise the January window and how 'important' it could be to Pompey.

The club are finally picking up results under Cowley and things are starting to click at Fratton Park. The manager has his own philosophy and ideas that he will want to implement at the club and January could provide him with the chance to bring in even more of the type of player he wants at Portsmouth.

The boss has even now admitted himself that he plans to utilise the winter window and use it wisely, having been forced into some hard decisions last year once he took over.

Pompey though are unbeaten in their last five and are edging closer to the top six - and if he can get his decisions right in terms of signings in January, then they could push on even more in the second half of the campaign.

Speaking to The News, he said: "We know January is a very important time for us. We can only recruit two times a year. We know the summer window is an easier recruitment period, but we can’t ignore the January window. We need to keep moving forward, otherwise we’ll leave ourselves with far too much to do again in the summer."

Cowley then will certainly be looking to bring in some fresh faces in the winter window. If he can make some shrewd additions, then it could finally be a promotion year for Pompey.

The Verdict

Danny Cowley is finally starting to see his work pay off at Portsmouth. After a shaky start, he is now picking up results and has his side playing some good football.

They're closing in on the play-off spots and there is no reason why they can't be in them come the end of the season. If he can make the right calls in January, they could even think of automatic promotion.