Pompey take on Oldham tomorrow with the news that Trevor Birch has rejected both bids from Portpin and the Pompey Supporters Trust tonight.
Team News
Johnny Ertl and Darel Russell are set to make their Pompey debuts as Lee Williamson will miss out again and Adam Webster is also struggling with a hip injury.
Josh Thompson can't play despite signing today and Kevin Long is suspended but Connor Clifford is pushing for a start after scoring against Carlisle last week.
Latics manager Paul Dickov may shake things up after a poor start to the season. Jordan Slew will have recovered from an injury he picked up against Walsall in time to play.
The Match
The news coming from PKF will worry every Pompey fan as Trevor Birch has given both Balram Chainrai and the Trust two weeks to submit an improved offer for Portsmouth FC.
A cynic will claim that this is more gamesmanship from Birch who wants to eek out some more money from the club as well as drumming up some urgency amongst Pompey fans who will believe this may well be the last game to be played at Fratton Park. Again.
Therefore there should be another cracking atmosphere at Pompey as football takes centre stage for 90 minutes.
Paul Dickov may well be taking charge of Oldham for the last time tomorrow as he has been linked with the vacant manager's post at Coventry.
It seems like some Oldham fans would be happy to see the back of him after a very uninspiring start to the season. A first round League Cup exit to Sheffield Wednesday has been followed by league defeats to MK Dons and Stevenage, with a 1-1 draw with Walsall sandwiched in between.
Therefore, the Pompey players and fans will believe that the Latics will be ripe for the taking and a first win of the season can be earned.
It will be interesting to see what Appleton does with the defence which is missing the man who has held it all together at times in Kevin Long. The back line was far too generous at Carlisle last Saturday so hopefully the arrivals of Ertl and Russell can shore things up.
With Daniel Bogdanovic not moving to Pompey as expected, Izale McLeod will have hopefully put his horrendous showing in Cumbria to the back of his mind and will find the target tomorrow.
Despite all that is going on off the pitch at the moment, I expect that Pompey can take this opportunity to claim an all-important first win of the season. I would hate to think of the atmosphere around the club if we lost this...
Click here for the League One Lowdown on Oldham Athletic.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Mikkel ANDERSEN
RB: Mustapha DUMBUYA
CB: Paul CONNOLLY
CB: Darel RUSSELL
LB: Jon HARLEY
RM: Johnny ERTL
CM: Liam WALKER
CM: Brian HOWARD
LM: Jack COMPTON
CF: Izale McLEOD
CF: Luke RODGERS
Oldham
GK: Alex CISAK
RB: Cliff BYRNE
CB: James TARKOWSKI
CB: Jean-Yves M'VOTO
LB: Jonathan GROUNDS
RM: Andrew CROFT
CM: Dean FURMAN
CM: Youssouf M'CHANGAMA
LM: Cristian MONTANO
CF: Jordan SLEW
CF: Robbie SIMPSON
Last Time: Portsmouth 1 Oldham Athletic 0 (Division One - 01/02/1997)
Paul Hall scored the only goal of the game as Terry Fenwick's men won in front of just 9,135 fans. Oldham were relegated at the end of the season and have been in the third tier ever since.
My Prediction
Given Oldham's woes on the pitch I believe the Pompey players can bounce back from Saturday's loss and lift the spirits of the Pompey fans with a first win of the season.
Portsmouth 2 Oldham Athletic 1