Pompey fans make the long, early trip to Lancashire tomorrow morning to take on Accrington Stanley live on Sky TV.
Team News
Guy Whittingham has told local news that despite making six changes to his side on Tuesday, he won't be making too many changes to his side that lost to Oxford last weekend. Johnny Ertl serves the second of his three game ban and is expected to be replaced by Romain Padovani.
Former Pompey striker Danny Webber is set to line up against his former club but James Beattie faces a dilemma after his changed team from Saturday's 4-1 thrashing at Newport was followed by a shock win at Middlesbrough on Tuesday.
The Match
Out of all 46 league matches Portsmouth will play this season, tomorrow's game is the one that I most want us not to lose. Like many others, I shall be getting up at an ungodly hour to make the long trek to Accrington who are managed by Pompey's arch-nemesis who Scummers would love to see get one over us.
Not to mention that Pompey are in need of a good result having started this campaign with two defeats which has seen some fans already question Guy Whittingham's future as manager!
The performance at Bournemouth was better than the humiliation against Oxford but still highlighted a few key problems that lie in this early Pompey team.
Firstly, the defence can be opened up easily by running at our full backs. Dan Butler was at fault for Oxford's first goal and Bournemouth's goal so could well be dropped. On the other flank, Joe Devera may stay at right back as he seemed much better there than in the centre of defence.
The second problem is that the opposition goalkeeper has barely been tested in Pompey's opening matches. It took 83 minutes to have a shot on target at Dean Court whilst I cannot remember the Oxford keeper having too much to do on Saturday despite Pompey's early dominance of that game.
It seems that when Pompey aren't giving the ball away cheaply that they are guilty of overplaying the ball and letting defenders get back rather than taking a direct route to goal or simply having a shot.
These are signs of a team that hasn't gelled yet but things have to click eventually and hopefully sooner rather than later. Despite what some Pompey fans may say there are players in our squad that are the envy of Stanley fans.
Guy has said he won't be making many changes to the side that lost to Oxford but Phil Smith must surely play after his excellent display at Bournemouth. He pulled off some terrific saves and commanded his area and defence better than Sullivan did on Saturday.
If Butler is dropped then Danny East is likely to be the man to replace him as Whittingham has no other orthodox left back to replace him. Bondz N'Gala performed well enough to suggest he should start tomorrow, too.
As for attempting to make a prediction on how this game is going to pan out, I have no idea. Accrington may have beaten Boro on Tuesday but I don't think that's going to have too much baring on this game. I suspect it will be physical and there will be goals at both ends.
But please, please Pompey for the love of God do not lose this game!
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Accrington
GK: Ian DUNBAVIN
RB: Peter MURPHY
CB: Tom ALDRED
CB: Dean WINNARD
LB: Michael LIDDLE
RM: Will HATFIELD
CM: Luke JOYCE
CM: George MILLER
LM: Luke CLARK
CF: Danny WEBBER
CF: Marcus CARVER
Pompey
GK: Phil SMITH
RB: Yassin MOUTAOUAKIL
CB: Joe DEVERA
CB: Sonny BRADLEY
LB: Dan BUTLER
RM: Jed WALLACE
CM: Romain PADOVANI
CM: Simon FERRY
LM: Andy BARCHAM
CF: Patrick AGYEMANG
CF: David CONNOLLY
Last Time: Accrington Stanley 0 Portsmouth 0 (FA Cup Round 4 - 24/01/1959)
A Pompey side led by Freddie Cox containing Jimmy Dickinson, Peter Harris and Ron Saunders could not beat their Third Division counterparts and had to take the tie to a replay, where Pompey won 4-1 at Fratton Park.
My Prediction
I'll have to sit on the fence as I simply have no idea how this is going to go given the early form of both teams.
Accrington Stanley 1 Portsmouth 1