Pompey take on Gillingham at Fratton Park tomorrow looking for their ninth win of the season after just twelve games to remain top of League One.
Team News
Kenny Jackett is expected to name an unchanged line-up after consecutive away wins at Rochdale and Coventry. Dion Donohue and Andre Green are not yet ready to return to the squad.
Conor Wilkinson will be hoping to play against his former club for Gillingham after scoring twice for the reserves in midweek but Billy Bingham, Regan Charles-Cook and Connor Ogilvie all have ankle injuries and will miss the game.
The Match
Whilst Pompey have won their previous two games on the road, they have only managed to draw their last two home matches against poor opposition and will not want to make that a hat-trick tomorrow.
Gillingham have struggled so far this season and haven't won since the second game of the campaign. Tom Eaves is arguably their most dangerous player because of his stature but he isn't anything that Matt Clarke and Jack Whatmough shouldn't be able to deal with.
Thankfully Lee Martin, scorer of two goals in the same fixture last season, now plays for Exeter but Wilkinson may well play after bagging an impressive equaliser for the Gills back in early March.
In all honesty, with the form Pompey are in they should be able to win tomorrow's game comfortably. A weakened Blues outfit thrashed Gillingham 4-0 in the Checkatrade Trophy not so long ago and their defence wilts under pressure and so should be fodder for Jamal Lowe and Ronan Curtis.
There's also the carrot of matching an unbeaten run which stretches all the way back to 1961 when George Smith's Portsmouth side began the season with twelve unbeaten games.
Of course, there will always be a shred of doubt going into matches like this because football can be unpredictable but if Pompey fail to win tomorrow then the fans will be complaining about more than just the Wimbledon ticket ballot!
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Craig MacGILLIVRAY
RB: Nathan THOMPSON
CB: Matt CLARKE
CB: Jack WHATMOUGH
LB: Lee BROWN
CM: Tom NAYLOR
CM: Ben CLOSE
CM: Gareth EVANS
RWF: Jamal LOWE
LWF: Ronan CURTIS
CF: Brett PITMAN
Gillingham
GK: Thomas HOLY
RWB: Luke O'NEILL
CB: Alex LACEY
CB: Max EHMER
CB: Gabriel ZAKUANI
LWB: Bradley GARMSTON
CM: Mark BYRNE
CM: Dean PERRETT
CM: Callum REILLY
CF: Tom EAVES
CF: Conor WILKINSON
Last Time: Portsmouth 1 Gillingham 3 (League One - 10/03/2018)
Jamal Lowe gave Pompey a first half lead but the game turned on its head in the second half as Gillingham equalised almost straight away after Conor Wilkinson beat three men before striking the ball past Luke McGee.
Lee Martin's long ball then sailed over everyone and into the net to give the visitors the lead and he then curled in a fine second goal to commence the fire drill for the Pompey fans who had seen enough on this cold spring afternoon.
My Prediction
Whilst there will always be some doubt in the minds of Pompey fans after failures to beat Wycombe and Shrewsbury, the defence are too organised and the attack should have too much about them for this match to end with a comfortable home win.
Portsmouth 3 Gillingham 1