Yeovil Town vs Portsmouth Preview

Last updated : 02 October 2012 By Jim Bonner

Pompey travel to Somerset tomorrow night for their first competitive match against Yeovil Town.

Team News

Akos Buzsaky could make his debut for Pompey but questions over his fitness suggest he'll be on the bench tomorrow. Darel Russell limped off during Saturday's win over Scunthorpe so Johnny Ertl may retain his place in midfield.

Yeovil manager Gary Johnson will be without Ed Upson who was sent off in the 3-2 defeat at Preston on Saturday. Keanu Marsh-Brown or Sam Foley will replace him.

The Match

Saturday's win was not pretty but welcome and the same again tomorrow evening will not be something to complain about if Pompey can pull off back-to-back victories for the first time in what seems like forever.

The Glovers have been in terrible form since their early season pomp and have lost their last five games, so this may be the perfect time for Pompey to claim their second away win and get into a theoretical positive points tally with the ten point penalty yet to come.

The defending on Saturday left a lot to be desired but did improve when Ertl came into the midfield and tightened things up. Hopefully he starts and the travelling fans get a glimpse of what Buzsaky is capable of, as he could well be the game changer.

The weather is forecast to be wet and windy, so it wouldn't be surprising if the match was dour and settled by a scrappy, late goal. Sod's law says it'll be the home side that scores it because the Pompey fans will be open to the elements, leaving them drenched for the depressing drive home.

But given how bad Yeovil have been in recent times, there will be a belief that Portsmouth can get a result against a side they regularly beat in pre-season back in the "good old days" of Premier League football.

Click here for the League One Lowdown on Yeovil Town.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Yeovil

GK: Marek STECH

RB: Luke AYLING

CB: Dan BURN

CB: Byron WEBSTER

LB: Jamie McALLISTER

RM: Joe EDWARDS

CM: Dominic BLIZZARD

CM: Keanu MARSH-BROWN

CM: Korey SMITH

LM: Gareth WILLIAMS

CF: Gozie UGWU

Pompey

GK: Mikkel ANDERSEN

RB: Mustapha DUMBUYA

CB: Gabor GYEPES

CB: Lubor MICHALIK

LB: Jon HARLEY

RM: Lee WILLIAMSON

CM: Brian HOWARD

CM: Johnny ERTL

LM: Jack COMPTON

CF: Izale McLEOD

CF: Wes THOMAS

My Prediction

Predicting Pompey will win away is like predicting that Richard Branson will buy the club. However, Yeovil's form is terrible so we should be good enough for a draw.

Yeovil Town 2 Portsmouth 2