Bristol Rovers vs Portsmouth Preview

Last updated : 20 August 2018 By Jim Bonner

Pompey travel to the Memorial Ground tomorrow looking for their fourth win out of four league games.

Team News

Kenny Jackett is likely to name an unchanged side tomorrow after such a comfortable win over Oxford on Saturday. Dion Donohue is still sidelined but there's a small chance Nathan Thompson could be available again.

Rovers boss Darrell Clarke is also likely to name an unchanged side from the team that earned their first league win of the season at Wycombe on Saturday.

The Match

Pompey arguably face their biggest test of the season tomorrow night as Tuesday night away games against opposition who aren't completely terrible have often seen them come away with no points.

Despite crushing woeful Oxford on Saturday, the Gas are going to put up far more resistance but there's no reason why confidence shouldn't be high after a performance to match the result at the weekend.

Last season this fixture broke Pompey's season, having gone into it in the top six and led for a fair while only to concede two late goals and suffer a defeat that took a long time to recover from and ultimately put too big a dent in the promotion push.

That might play on some of the players' minds but there is a huge opportunity to make a statement of intent if Pompey can keep their 100% record going, with only Peterborough able to match that record before their trip to Charlton tomorrow evening.

Rovers may have been beaten by Accrington Stanley in their last home game but they are one of those sides who seem to start slowly but improve quickly. We know Liam Sercombe is one of the most capable passers in the division but Ollie Clarke and Tom Nicholls are also threats at League One level.

Still, the momentum should be with Kenny Jackett's men and if they pass this test then they will have made believers out of many that this just might be a special season.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Bristol Rovers

GK: Adam SMITH

RB: James CLARKE

CB: Ed UPSON

CB: Tom LOCKYER

LB: Tony CRAIG

RM: Sam MATTHEWS

CM: Ollie CLARKE

CM: Tom BROADBENT

LM: Liam SERCOMBE

CF: Stefan PAYNE

CF: Tom NICHOLLS

Pompey

GK: Craig MacGILLIVRAY

RB: Anton WALKES

CB: Matt CLARKE

CB: Jack WHATMOUGH

LB: Lee BROWN

CM: Gareth EVANS

CM: Tom NAYLOR

CM: Ben THOMPSON

RWF: Jamal LOWE

LWF: Ronan CURTIS

CF: Oli HAWKINS

Last Time: Bristol Rovers 2 Portsmouth 1 (League One - 01/01/2018)

It seemed like Pompey would get the new year off to the perfect start when Hawkins headed in Adam May's cross but Stuart Sinclair tapped in an equaliser in the 81st minute and the heartbreak came at the death when Sercombe struck home a stoppage time winner to inflict an extremely damaging defeat on Kenny Jackett's men.

My Prediction

As well as Pompey played on Saturday, there are still many questions for this team to answer and I can see this one being a draw, which wouldn't be a terrible result.

Bristol Rovers 1 Portsmouth 1