Pompey take on Doncaster Rovers tomorrow looking to their form at Fratton Park to help them bounce back from Tuesday's dire defeat at Blackpool.
Team News
Paul Cook has hinted at making changes to his side following the loss at Bloomfield Road. Matt Clarke may make his first start of the season at the expense of Tom Davies whilst Kal Naismith may also be dropped for either Milan Lalkovic or Kyle Bennett.
Darren Ferguson has no new injury worries but may hand a first start of the season to centre back Mathieu Baudry. Gary McSheffrey heads a list of long-term absentees for tomorrow's opposition.
The Match
Having witnessed how poor Pompey were at Blackpool on Tuesday, it wouldn't be surprising to see Cook make a couple of changes to his team with Clarke and Lalkovic likely to replace the underperforming Davies and Naismith.
On the other hand, the same side that underperformed in Lancashire destroyed Barnet just three days earlier and so he isn't going to make wholesale changes to that side.
Doncaster should prove to be tougher opposition than the Bees. They're above Portsmouth in the League Two table on goals scored and have found the net in every league game they've played so far this season. Given that Pompey haven't kept a clean sheet in four games, it wouldn't be surprising to see David Forde pick the ball out of his net tomorrow, especially if he repeats his poor performance against the Tangerines.
Whilst Rovers possess plenty of firepower with John Marquis (who couldn't hit a barn door in his Pompey days) and Andy Williams up front, they also struggle to keep clean sheets so as long as the midfield can keep their pressing game going like they have been doing at Fratton Park, then they're bound to concede at least one goal too.
It's really important to win tomorrow just to make a statement that Pompey are capable of beating their promotion rivals as well as the mediocre teams that come to Fratton Park. Trips to Leyton Orient and Plymouth follow this game so it would be handy to go into those difficult fixtures without back-to-back defeats on the players' minds.
It should be an entertaining match tomorrow. Let's just hope Pompey are on the right side of the scoreline by the time the final whistle blows tomorrow.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: David FORDE
RB: Gareth EVANS
CB: Christian BURGESS
CB: Matt CLARKE
LB: Enda STEVENS
DM: Michael DOYLE
DM: Danny ROSE
RM: Gary ROBERTS
AM: Carl BAKER
LM: Milan LALKOVIC
CF: Conor CHAPLIN
Doncaster
GK: Marko MAROSI
RB: Frazer RICHARDSON
CB: Joe WRIGHT
CB: Andy BUTLER
LB: Cedric EVINA
RM: Jordan HOUGHTON
CM: Matty BLAIR
CM: Tommy ROWE
LM: James COPPINGER
CF: Andy WILLIAMS
CF: John MARQUIS
Last Time: Portsmouth 0 Doncaster Rovers 1 (League One - 17/11/2012)
A single Iain Hume goal in the first half was enough to consign managerless Pompey to their sixth straight defeat.
My Prediction
It'll be interesting to see how Main or Bennett perform against their former club if they get the chance but I'm backing Pompey to return to form in front of their home fans with a hard-earned win.
Portsmouth 2 Doncaster Rovers 1