THERE is no doubt the pressure on a football manager suffering a ninth defeat in 10 games anywhere but Crewe would be unbearable.

But Dave Artell insists the pathway ahead is smoother than some might think and stressed the club was in a far worse position in January 2017 when Steve Davis was axed.

Then the Railwaymen were in League Two and the then manager, some say, had cut the link between Academy and first team with regular forays into the loan market.

They are points worth debating, but a tame relegation back into the fourth tier is one thing that the current Crewe management could end up emulating the end of the Davis era if this sorry sequence goes on.

Artell admitted this was a game too far for some of his younger set against an in-form side. They were cut apart at the back at key moments again, just like in Saturday's reverse at the hands of Wycombe.

And while there was as spirited late rally during which Chris Long, Crewe's best player on the night, struck the underside of the bar and squeezed in a stoppage-time consolation, it came too little too late.

Improvement is needed, although with games against Sunderland, Wigan and MK Dons ahead it won't get any easier to execute that.

A team patched up and revamped in the transfer window, doesn't look like it can buy a victory at the moment. Bad fortune hasn't helped with two of those January signings already sidelined and another, Dan Agyei, picking up an injury tonight.

But Artell said: "We were in a worse situation five years ago as we were a division lower and we were trying to repair the broken development path from the under-23s to the first team. We've got that in abundance which is why 17 and 18-year-olds are playing.

"The players are giving everything and they have not thrown the towel in. We have got to stand together and the fans have been brilliant as at most other clubs there would be hell to play.

"We're not accepting the inevitability of it. I'm not tearing strips off the players because they are giving everything. We've got to keep them going and they will get there."

Pompey were winning their sixth game in seven to reignite their top-six push. They had a spring in their step from the off and were ahead in the third minute when on-loan Leicester City frontman

George Hirst, the son of former Sheffield Wednesday striker David, rose the highest to plant a far-post header onto Conor Ogilvie's cross. Tyler Walker failed to finish from close range after Dave Richards kept out a free kick from Ronan Curtis. But he made no mistake with a far-post tap-in after Sean Raggett's shot was diverted into his path by Richards (31). Hirst's downward header from Ogilvie's cross effectively sealed the game (66) before a late grandstand finish from the Alex ended with Long firing under Gavin Bazuna's legs from a tight angle for a stoppage-time consolation (90+1). Artell added: "We have got to make sure we are doing that when it is 0-0. "In every recent game we've had spells. We dominated Oxford and we had a good 40 minutes against Wycombe. We had 30 to 40 good minutes tonight, but goals change games." Crewe: Richards 7; Johnson 6 (Williams), Offord 6, O'Riordan 6; Murphy 5, Lowery 6, Griffiths 5 (Harper), Lundstram 7; Agyei 6 (Ainley), Long 8, Porter 5 Subs: Jaaskelainen, Finney, Sambou, Salisbury. Pompey: Bazunu; Carter (Hume), Raggett, Robertson; Romeo, Morrell, Thompson (Tunnicliffe), Ogilvie; Curtis, Walker, Hirst (O'Brien). Subs: Vincent, Mingi, Webber, Jewitt-White. Attendance: 4,307