Pompey (possibly) take on AFC Wimbledon tomorrow looking for their first home win since Boxing Day to pull clear of the bottom two in the league.
Team News
Despite going off with a knock at Exeter Joe Devera may well have recovered in time to keep his place in the team whilst Simon Ferry may also be fit after recovering from a back injury. Both players are in training but are still doubtful for the match, however.
The Dons have a few key defenders missing through injury with Andy Frampton, Barry Fuller and Callum Kennedy out. Midfielder Peter Sweeney is still sidelined with a foot injury.
The Match
The torrid weather continues to cast doubts over whether this game goes ahead but if it does then it is one that Pompey surely have to win given their current league position and the mood around the club.
Exeter's last-minute equaliser coupled with results midweek mean that if Pompey lose tomorrow then they could be just a point above the relegation zone with both the bottom clubs having played a game less.
Frustrations started to boil over from the fans last week and that reaction is only going to get worse if Portsmouth fail to beat Wimbledon tomorrow with so much at stake.
The Dons may be 12th in League Two with 38 points but they wouldn't consider themselves to be safe from relegation and, like most other teams this season, will raise their game at Fratton Park in front of over 2,000 of their own fans. That's quite worrying considering that they won the reverse fixture 4-0!
That was mainly due to some criminally poor defending and if Richie Barker has got anything right this season, it is that the defence do look ike a competent unit for most of a football match now, even if they're prone to one or two lapses of concentration.
It is at the other end of the pitch where Pompey are struggling, especially at home where it seems like some of our players don't fare well under the pressure of playing in front of such a huge, expectant crowd. Chances are at a premium and there has been a lack of goals but as there have been no new arrivals this week, expect the same style of play unless Jed Wallace has one of his few games where his performance drives the team on.
Pompey are going to need something like that to happen as the key to winning this game is to come out firing on all cylinders, so to speak. Neal Ardley's men are notoriously slow starters to matches this season and have only scored once in the first half hour.
There may be some hope that Wimbledon's defence will be disorganised due to having three key defenders out with injury and that they were hammered at Kingsmeadow by Rochdale last week.
However, with the way that Barker sets his team to play and the fact that many of the visiting fans would probably be content with a point, this could well be another frustrating day at Fratton Park for the home fans.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Trevor CARSON
RB: Daniel ALFEI
CB: Sonny BRADLEY
CB: Ben CHORLEY
LB: Marcos PAINTER
RM: Jed WALLACE
CM: Nicky SHOREY
CM: Thery RACON
LM: Ricky HOLMES
CF: Jake JERVIS
CF: Ryan TAYLOR
Wimbledon
GK: Ross WARNER
RB: Aaron MORRIS
CB: Darren JONES
CB: Alan BENNETT
LB: Jim FENLON
RM: George FRANCOMB
CM: Sammy MOORE
CM: Harry PELL
LM: Chris ARTUR
CF: Danny HYLTON
CF: Charlie WYKE
My Prediction
Despite improvements at Exeter there are still problems with the creativity in this team and given that Wimbledon's style is also to contain the opposition and hit them on the break later in the game, this will probably be a disappointing draw which would be much better for the visiting fans than ours.
Portsmouth 1 AFC Wimbledon 1