Midfielder Jack Lankester shares the optimism building among the club’s supporters that Town can end the current campaign on a high by securing a League One play-off place.
The 21-year-old from Bury St Edmunds started his first game of 2021 on Tuesday against high-flying Lincoln, helping the Blues to fight back from the blow of conceding a first-half goal and level through James Wilson to collect what he feels could eventually prove to be a valuable point.
Lankester said: "When you look at the table we’re sitting seventh, a point and a place behind Portsmouth with a game in hand on them. That’s a good place to be right now and securing a place in the play-offs has got to be our aim.”
It could also help that Pompey are experiencing a wobble, with no wins in their last four league games and three defeats in a row. Their next league fixture takes them to second-placed Peterborough next Tuesday and on Saturday week Town head for Fratton Park for a vital clash.
Lankester added: "Whatever we believe in, I feel we can achieve as a team. We just have to get back into the top six and look to stay there, not just hanging on but in a solid position and looking to beat the teams around us. Then, hopefully, we’ll be in a position to go up come the end of the season.”
For the time being, the homegrown youngster is just glad to be featuring for new manager Paul Cook, who intimated in his pre-Lincoln press conference that he was going to introduce a player who had not even been in his match-day squad of 18 for his first game in charge at Gillingham last Saturday.
Enter Lankester, who continued: "It was great to be back in the starting line-up. Obviously, I haven’t played a lot recently, but when a new manager comes in it gives everyone a clean slate and a chance to impress. I was very happy that he gave me the chance to go out there and show what I could do.
"The aim now has to be to get a run of games. When I was out of the team I was trying to keep on top of it by playing in the U23s because I believe in trying to play game after game, and now that I’m back in the first team there’s nothing I would like more than to play on a regular basis at that level. That’s what I’m aiming to do.”
Asked if he feels he has reached an age where he believes he should be holding down a regular place in Cook’s starting line-up, he added: "Yes, I’m older now and I obviously missed over a year of football with injury. Now is the time for me to kick on — it’s a big time in my career — and I’m looking to do that here. I would love to do it here.”
Lankester has featured predominantly as a wide midfielder during a first-team career disrupted by back problems that started in January 2019. Not only did he fail to feature again that season, he also missed the entire 2019/20 campaign before returning to action at senior level in September last year.
Asked about his best position, he said: "I think my best position is in the attacking midfield role, the number 10 or whatever, but I can also occupy either wing and try to create from the wide areas. There is plenty of competition for that place — Teddy Bishop, Alan Judge, Josh Harrop and me for example.
"But it’s good competition because all of us in the squad want each other to do well. Whenever we’re doing stuff out on the pitch, and we’re not sure, I’d ask the likes of Judgey because he’s played there a lot longer than I have and everyone is helping each other.”