91Èȱ¬

Plymouth Argyle central defender Peter Hartley says he and his team-mates must take missing out on a top-three place in League Two "like men".

The Pilgrims, who were top at Christmas, will face Portsmouth in the play-off semi-finals.

"We haven't dealt well enough with situations in games and we've conceded a lot of late goals," said Hartley.

"In the first three or four months of the season it was us scoring those late goals," he told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Devon.

Argyle have won just twice in the last six games as their hopes of an automatic promotion place drifted away, having been five points clear at the top of the league in November.

"Everything's been spot on - preparation, training, match analysis - nothing's changed from that streak we went on to that blip we've had in recent games," he added.

"But we're in the play-offs now and we've got to take it like men. We've been knocked on the ropes, we've got to bounce back off them and land a punch on Pompey and hopefully go to Wembley."