Last Updated: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:37
Paul Hart insists Portsmouth can survive this season despite the 1-0 defeat at Stoke, while he played down David James' latest injury.
The Pompey boss watched his side match the Potters for most of Sunday's clash at the Britannia Stadium and miss an early penalty when Kevin-Prince Boateng's kick was saved by keeper Thomas Sorensen. However they were left pointless and stuck at the foot of the table when Ricardo Fuller scored the only goal of the game on 74 minutes.
Hart, whose side are still four points adrift of safety, said: "I think we are getting there and I think we will find the answer. We still believe we are going to get out of this."
Meanwhile 39-year-old England international goalkeeper James was ruled out of the game after he suffered a calf injury in the warm-up prior to the kick-off. However Hart has played down the severity of the injury in terms of him being available for next summer's World Cup finals.
"He pulled a calf muscle warming up," he said. "The World Cup is in June, a calf muscle is usually about three weeks. I think he will be fit for the World Cup.
"We are managing the situation (regarding James' knee) at the moment and up until now he has been out on the pitch.
"He has to do some gym work to help him through it but he has been there and it has not been a real problem."