Yeovil vs Portsmouth Preview

Last updated : 01 September 2014 By Jim Bonner

Andy Awford will be hoping his side don't face a third straight defeat in the space of a week when they travel to Huish Park tomorrow for their Johnstoe's Paint Trophy tie.

Team News

Awford is likely to tinker with his team selection again for this match with Dan Butler, Johnny Ertl and Nick Awford all in the frame to play. Alex Wynter is also available having trained during last week as is Michael Poke and Patrick Agyemang but Ryan Bird and Peter Brezovan have left the club.

New signing Jack Price is set to make his debut having arrived from Wolves on loanto replace the injured Simon Gillett who was injured in the Glovers' game with Barnsley on Saturday. James Berrett, Joel Grant and Liam Davis are also sidelined.

The Match 

Let's be honest, the paint trophy is hardly Pompey's biggest priority of the season and there won't be too many supporters of either club who will be too disappointed if their team is knocked out of the competition tomorrow.

The Pompey manager has said he'll give the game a "right good go" but is likely to play a second-string side with Sunday's far more important league match at Burton in mind. Expect to see the likes of Butler, Ertl, Webster and Barcham all given starts with the rest of the players trying to play their way into the team for the league match.

Yeovil manager Gary Johnson has his own injury problems and may well only be able to name six substitutes so it's likely that a weakened Glovers side will face Pompey tomorrow night especially as they have only picked up five points from five league matches and will want to push for promotion to the Championship.

Whilst the fans won't care too much about this game (indeed, a couple I spoke to today had forgotten all about it!) this is a winnable game and a trip to Wembley in March certainly wouldn't go amiss, even if the road to get there is long and tedious.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Yeovil

GK: Chris WEALE

RB: Jakob SOKOLIK

CB: Aaron MARTIN

CB: Ben NUGENT

LB: Nathan SMITH

RM: Kevin DAWSON

CM: Jack PRICE

CM: Joe EDWARDS

LM: Sam FOLEY

CF: James HAYTER

CF: AJ LEITCH-SMITH

Pompey

GK: Paul JONES

RB: Adam WEBSTER

CB: Joe DEVERA

CB: Paul ROBINSON

LB: Dan BUTLER

RM: Andy BARCHAM

CM: Nick AWFORD

CM: Johnny ERTL

LM: Ricky HOLMES

CF: Ryan TAYLOR

CF: Miles STOREY

Last Time: Yeovil Town 1 Portsmouth 2 (League One - 02/10/2012)

Izale McLeod gave Pompey an early lead as Michael Appleton's men missed a host of chances in the first half. Reuben Reid equalised from the penalty spot in the second half but Gabor Gyepes won it with a scrappy goal as the visiting fans celebrated in the pouring rain.

My Prediction

With what looks like two weakened teams playing, this match is difficult to predict. It will go straight to penalties if the scores are level after 90 minutes so I'm going for Pompey to edge it on spot kicks.

Yeovil Town 1 Portsmouth 1 (Portsmouth to win on penalties)