Niko Kranjcar believes Portsmouth's survival hopes this season could rest on their home form.
Pompey star seeks home comforts
Niko Kranjcar believes Portsmouth's survival hopes this season could rest on their home form.
With that in mind, the Croatia international playmaker knows it is imperative that Pompey turn Fratton Park into a fortress.
The South Coast club have lost eight times in front of their own supporters in all competitions this season, but they were able to secure a 2-0 win over Manchester City last time out at home.
Caretaker coaches Paul Hart and Brian Kidd have taken four points from their first two games at the helm to help lift the mood in the Pompey camp at a crucial time, but Kranjcar knows there is still a lot of work to be done before Premier League safety is secured.
"We know Fratton Park over the years was our fortress and we hope to bring that back," he told
The News.
"We are still three points clear of Stoke (in 17th) and five points clear of Middlesbrough (in 18th) and they are teams we are going to battle it out with until the end of the season.
"Hopefully we can now pick up the home wins and move on up the table.
Battled
"That Stoke performance (a 2-2 draw last Saturday) was very important.
"We battled hard and hopefully we can go on towards the end of the season and be safe.
"We need to start doing that at home and only recently we lost in the last minute to Liverpool (3-2).
"The future matters and the present matters.
"Now I think we have to forget about the past and what happened and look forward to the remainder of the season.
"Hopefully we can start picking up the results because things are encouraging at the moment and the team is doing well.
"We've now got to push on and build on that."
