Pompey travel to mid-table Morecambe to play one of their games in hand on the other promotion chasers as they look to close the considerable gap between themselves and the top three.
Team News
New loan signing Michael Smith is in the squad and is expected to feature at some point in the game. Kieron Freeman may also make his debut now he is able to play whilst Brian Murphy will return to the bench after recovering from concussion and Paul Jones was sent on loan to Crawley.
Shrimps midfielder Alex Kenyon will be missing after picking up an injury in their defeat to Mansfield whilst manager Jim Bentley will consider other changes after three straight league defeats.
The Match
The cup run is over and now the league can take full focus as Pompey look to close in on the automatic promotion places.
The task remains a significant one as Paul Cook's men are seven points from third place but curiously could be just three points behind Plymouth if they can win all three of their games in hand.
A Tuesday night up in stormy Lancashire may not be the ideal place to pick up the first of those victories but Morecambe have suffered consecutive defeats to Newport, Mansfield and Northampton and are therefore ripe for the taking so long as Saturday's FA Cup tie hasn't taken too much out of the team.
Freeman will probably start just to give Ben Davies' weary legs a much deserved rest. Smith is likely to start on the bench and could be a viable "Plan B" thanks to his height and physical presence in the box.
Otherwise, it's expected that the team that performed so well against Bournemouth will play at the Globe Arena and hopefully repeat that showing. If they do, then a key victory in the race for promotion should be won.
At least there shouldn't be any complacency after the reverse fixture which saw the Shrimps race into a three goal lead within half an hour. Tom Barkhuizen looked dangerous during that game and is bound to pose a threat again whilst veteran Kevin Ellison is still capable of scoring goals, too.
Still, for all the threat that Morecambe may pose, their defence is brittle and the craft and guile of Pompey's forward players should be enough to score the goal in a match they simply have to win.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Morecambe
GK: Barry ROCHE
RB: Shaun BEELEY
CB: Adam DUGDALE
CB: Ryan EDWARDS
LB: Aaron McGOWAN
DM: Andrew FLEMING
DM: Alan GOODALL
RM: Jamie DEVITT
AM: Tom BARKHUIZEN
LM: Aaron WILDIG
CF: Kevin ELLISON
Pompey
GK: Ryan FULTON
RB: Kieron FREEMAN
CB: Matt CLARKE
CB: Adam WEBSTER
LB: Enda STEVENS
DM: Michael DOYLE
DM: Adam BARTON
RM: Gareth EVANS
AM: Gary ROBERTS
LM: Kyle BENNETT
CF: Marc McNULTY
Last Time: Morecambe 3 Portsmouth 1 (League Two - 11/04/2015)
Feeble Pompey fell behind when Alex Kenyon headed in a Jamie Devitt cross after ten minutes and he then volleyed in a second on 69 minutes to make the game comfortable. Josh Passley suffered a horrific injury that saw him end up in hospital and Conor Chaplin then bagged his first goal in professional football with five minutes to go.
There was to be no equaliser as Padraig Amond scored in stoppage time and that would be the end of Andy Awford's reign as Portsmouth manager as he was sacked soon after this dismal result.
My Prediction
Hopefully the Pompey that performed against Bournemouth rather than Oxford turns up at Morecambe tomorrow. If they do, they should have enough quality to win the game.
Morecambe 1 Portsmouth 2