Kiely eyes milestone with Pompey

By Mandeep Sanghera

Kiely's experience has helped steady the ship at Portsmouth

Portsmouth keeper Dean Kiely insists helping the club to secure Premiership survival will rank among his greatest achievements in football.

Kiely has been promoted with York and Charlton and now bids to steer Pompey to their great escape.

"I came here in January relishing the challenge and it was just that," the 35-year-old told BBC Sport.

"There are a few achievements I'm very happy about but this would be right up there with them."

Kiely was at York when they created one of the biggest upsets in English cup history by beating Manchester United 3-0 in the League Cup in 1995.

He is now Pompey's number one keeper after Fratton Park boss Harry Redknapp brought him to the club from Charlton in January.

A run of three wins on the trot has lifted hopes of the south-coast club avoiding the drop, especially considering they have the easier-looking set of fixtures compared to their rivals.

I don't think we should set a points total because then you put a limit on what you are going to get Dean Kiely

But Kiely is keen for his team-mates to retain their focus.

"We've got a certain amount of games left and we've got to apply ourselves and focus for those games and pick as many points up as we can," he said.

"I don't think we should spend that time looking at what other teams are doing and having our fingers crossed that things will go our way.

"We can only affect our games and that's what we must focus on.

"Obviously our confidence is high but in terms of people talking about run-ins, I've played for a long time in the Premiership and I've never had any easy game so that category doesn't exist for a start."

He added: "I don't think we should set a points total because then you put a limit on what you are going to get.

"We're happy that we are going to be involved in seven games and, like I say, we are confident we can set about each game on its merits and get something from them."