Yeovil vs Portsmouth Preview

Last updated : 19 February 2016 By Jim Bonner

Pompey travel to Huish Park to take on a struggling Yeovil side as they look to build on last Saturday's excellent win over Bristol Rovers.

Team News

Conor Chaplin will miss the game due to an ankle injury and Danny Hollands has returned to training but isn't fit to play yet.

Former Pompey midfielders Jack Compton and Wes Fogden are injured and won't play whilst captain Darren Ward's return from injury has come just in time as centre back Nathan Smith is banned following his red card at Hartlepool last week.

The Match

Last weekend's huge result over Rovers may well be a turning point in Pompey's season given the quality of their performance but they must now follow that up with consecutive wins in the next three games against mediocre opposition.

It's unlikely that Paul Cook will make any changes to his starting eleven for tomorrow's game unless he has one eye on Tuesday night's trip to Barnet. Michael Smith proved his doubters wrong, the midfield looked energetic and the defence were solid so why change anything?

Pompey may look at Yeovil and see that they languish second-from-bottom in the Football League and have half as many points as the Blues do and therefore will be expected to be rolled over at Huish Park.

However, the Glovers' form before last weekend's defeat to Hartlepool was better than Pompey's as they were unbeaten in four games having won two and drawn two of them.

With Paul "hoofball" Sturrock no longer in charge of them, Yeovil won't settle for a draw like they did at Fratton Park earlier in the season. They will come to attack and they have a never-say-die attitude under new manager Darren Way so they cannot be taken lightly.

Having said that, Yeovil cannot keep clean sheets and their top scorer is the hapless Ryan Bird. Their style of play should also suit Paul Cook's men as they can soak up pressure and rip them apart on the counter.

It goes without saying that Portsmouth need to win to keep pressure on those teams above them. There is a huge opportunity to close the gap as Oxford host Accrington and Wycombe travel to champions-elect Northampton. Plymouth are away at Crawley and will be expected to win.

Therefore it's imperative that Pompey take all three points at Huish Park to keep the automatic promotion hopes alive.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Yeovil

GK: Artur KRYSIAK

RB: Connor ROBERTS

CB: Jakub SOKOLIK

CB: Darren WARD

LB: Ryan DICKSON

CM: Liam WALSH

CM: Ben TOZER

CM: Matt DOLAN

RWF: Francois ZOKO

LWF: Harry CORNICK

CF: Ryan BIRD

Pompey

GK: Ryan FULTON

RB: Ben DAVIES

CB: Christian BURGESS

CB: Adam WEBSTER

LB: Enda STEVENS

DM: Michael DOYLE

DM: Ben CLOSE

RM: Gareth EVANS

AM: Gary ROBERTS

LM: Kyle BENNETT

CF: Michael SMITH

Last Time: Yeovil Town 1 Portsmouth 3 (Johnstone's Paint Trophy - 02/09/2014)

After a boring first half, Jed Wallace bagged a brace and the game was sealed by an excellent Craig Westcarr lob over the keeper. Nathan Ralph pulled one back but Pompey coasted into the next round at the expense of their League One opponents.

My Prediction

Confidence should be high after last weekend's performance and to be honest, if Pompey cannot beat Yeovil over the course of a season then they don't deserve to win automatic promotion.

Yeovil Town 0 Portsmouth 2