Pompey will look to get back to winning ways when they take on Martin Allen's Barnet team at Fratton Park tomorrow.
Team News
Paul Cook is likely to make changes to the team that lost at Accrington last weekend with Kyle Bennett most likely to be dropped. Ben Tollitt has joined Tranmere on a month's loan whilst Curtis Main and Noel Hunt are doubts with head and groin injuries respectively.
Gavin Hoyte, Michael Gash and James Pearson won't feature for the Bees tomorrow as they all have knee problems but former Pompey players John Akinde and Bondz N'Gala should start.
The Match
A friend of mine who travelled to Lancashire last week said that Pompey's performance was "the worst he'd ever seen" and although that may be exaggerating given how many atrocious performances Portsmouth have "treated" us to over the years, no shots on target during that match tells its own story.
For some reason, Pompey haven't been able to get going away from home this season but the story is much different at Fratton Park and only victory over an average Barnet team will be acceptable.
As much as people are clamouring for Conor Chaplin to start tomorrow, it would be the typical stubborn Cook way to start Michael Smith once again as his attacking options are otherwise dwindling.
If he is going to persist with Smith then he should at least start Kal Naismith along with him as the pair work well together, the proof being their dynamic performances at Yeovil and against Newport in a reserve match on Monday.
If he does come into the team it'll be for Bennett who offered little at Accrington but the whole team need to improve after such a terrible showing at the Crown Ground.
As with any team managed by Martin Allen, you know what you're going to get with Barnet tomorrow. They'll be physical, they don't play pretty football and they will park the bus and look to use Akinde's pace on the break. He may have been useless in a Pompey shirt but he is far more dangerous in an amber one.
Having said that, any defence marshalled by Bondz N'Gala is going to have its weaknesses and any kind of pace or guile going forward is going to cause him and his team-mates problems. That only strengthens the case to start Chaplin tomorrow but we all know that it's about as likely to happen as Southampton winning a major trophy this season.
Whoever's picked, hopefully they can put the Accrington defeat behind them and begin another winning run as autumn arrives.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: David FORDE
RB: Gareth EVANS
CB: Christian BURGESS
CB: Tom DAVIES
LB: Enda STEVENS
DM: Michael DOYLE
DM: Danny ROSE
RM: Gary ROBERTS
AM: Carl BAKER
LM: Milan LALKOVIC
CF: Michael SMITH
Barnet
GK: Josh VICKERS
RB: Elliot JOHNSON
CB: Michael NELSON
CB: Bondz N'GALA
LB: Mauro VILHETE
RM: Sam MUGGLETON
CM: Sam TOGWELL
CM: Curtis WESTON
LM: Jamal CAMPBELL-RYCE
CF: Jean-Louis AKPA-AKPRO
CF: John AKINDE
Last Time: Portsmouth 3 Barnet 1 (League Two - 12/09/2015)
Andy Yiadom gave the visitors a shock lead but Conor Chaplin evened the score before the break. Pompey then took the lead in controversial fashion as an offside flag for Kyle Bennett was ignored by Adam McGurk who then scored.
Goalkeeper Jamie Stephens was then sent off for a second yellow card and Chaplin made sure of the points with a second goal in stoppage time to maintain Portsmouth's unbeaten start to the season.
My Prediction
This will be a tough game due to Barnet's rugged style of play but I'm backing Pompey to bounce back after the Accrington setback.
Portsmouth 2 Barnet 0