Portsmouth v Sunderland – Skybet League One Last time out Portsmouth beat Lincoln and Sunderland beat Tranmere. Sunderland travel to Portsmouth on Saturday to face an in-form Pompey side. The Black Cats grabbed a hard fought win at Prenton Park thanks to a headed goal from Charlie Wyke. The result sees Sunderland move up to fifth and extends their unbeaten run to nine games, with four clean sheets in a row. Phil Parkinson will be tempted to make a few changes with Scowen and Lafferty both in contention to start. Aiden McGeady has joined Charlton on loan and Mark McNulty has gone to Hibs. Portsmouth have won their last seven matches in all competitions and will look to improve their own promotion prospects. Phil Parkinson: “We’re working towards a couple more additions and if we get the ones we want, great - if not, we will stick with what we’ve got.” “Dialogue has kept on going between ourselves and a few clubs. Ideally we would get deals done early next week because we will be travelling at the end of the week down to Portsmouth.” “We enjoyed the victory, it was a hard slog tonight. The lads are on a high in the dressing room because they knew what they had to do tonight and they did it.” Kenny Jackett: “We have to really work hard to bring our crowd into play, they’ve been excellent both home and away.” “For the people that went up and made the journey to Lincoln, they got right behind the players. Fantastic that was to see and we’ll need everybody again.” "It's really up to us to put the performance on that brings a positive home crowd, and we can do that" "It's a big game between two big clubs, who have enjoyed good form and are looking for one of those three promotion places." Form: Prutton predicts: 1-0 Match Appointments: Referee: CHRISTOPHER SARGINSON Assistant Referees: Michael Webb and Kevin Howick Fourth Official: Gary Parsons Team Line ups Sunderland: McLaughlin, O’Nien, Lynch, Wright, Willis, Hume, Power, Dobson, Gooch, Maguire, Lafferty Subs: Burge, McLaughlin, Scowen, Leadbitter, Watmore, Wyke, Semenyo Injured: Embleton, Grigg, Ozturk Portsmouth Bass, Bolton, Raggett, Burgess, Seddon, Naylor, Close, Williams, Cannon, Curtis, Marquis. Subs: MacGillivray, Whatmough, Brown, McCrorie, McGeehan, Harness, Harrison Injured: tbc Betting Odds: Home 23/10 Away 12/5 Draw 21/10 My two pence: A tough game against an in-form Pompey side, and after a poor start to the season we both seem to be hitting our best form right now. This is a difficult one to call, head says draw but heart says away win. My guess is a 2-1 away win Ha'way the lads
I didnt realise Pompeys form was so good at the moment. With a noisey home crowd behind them aswell this will be a very tough game for us.
That includes 3 cup games but we have slightly better league form. Sunderland: W4 D2 L0 Portsmouth: W4 D1 L1 They lost to MK Dons.
Exactly, it's only a month since MK Dons beat them comfortably and they drew with Gillingham. Since then they've had narrow league wins against 10 man Wimbledon and Bolton who outplayed them but lost. It all looks good on paper but it's not as impressive as it looks at first glance. Great thread btw, as usual.
I'm still not gonna try and predict this. These next three games could be a good indication of where we are at. My concerns are higher teams having the measure of our seemingly only game plan and stifling us. Tranmere could have nicked a draw at least and i thought the substitutions were left a bit late . Are we good enough to just outplay the rest and win promotion ? Or has Parky got another hand to play ?
Pompey are the only team at this level that I've felt a sense of rivalry with. We had some intense games last season and they were mainly all competitive. I'm expecting the same this time but I think we'll hold our own. 2-2 Lafferty and O'Nien.
Cracking thread as always. Very difficult game to call. Both teams in decent form. Sometimes the pressure of being at home in big games hinders the home team, and hopefully this happens on Saturday. I think a 1-1 is on the cards, but it’s difficult to call.
My thoughts exactly, this is a huge test for PP, I hope he can do it, but it will be tough going. As it seams McNulty is out of favour, I would bring Scowen and Lafferty on at some stage for Wyke and Dobson to avoid burn out. While this game is important its only three points, so I hope PP plays it canny, remembering that Pompey are a team we have to better in the long run, not just tommorow. OaU
D DOubt watmore or macnulty will be on bench. I hope maguire lifts his game after tranmere. He was very very patchy. Yes he provided the assist. We need him probing, testing, annoying and pressing all game to get maximum points. Dobson as well needs to get back to what he does best. With scowen around maybe he will be more motivated
Away win for me like,watmore,power,o'nien and will's. Hard graft from start to end required,k.t.f...ftm. RTB is the king of match day thread's.
February is going to be a very important month. If we can remain unbeaten, I think it sets us up nicely for the run in. All the W's in the last six games might look impressive, but 2 of them were in the Leasing Trophy, and a home cup win against Barnsley, who's confidence must be pretty low after a poor season to date. If we turn up and play as we can, we are more than a match for anyone in this league. I don't think this Portsmouth team are anywhere near as good as last season. I don't know if we can nick one, but I am fairly confident that we can shut them out. Haway Lads, keep the run going!
Great post (always) mate. Looking at the results had me worried a bit, but posters have put that in better perspective - so - I’ve upped my original thought of a narrow but honourable defeat to at least a draw. And if our new resolute defence continue their mean attitude a win is not out of the picture. KTF
Good OP Portsmouth on a great winning run and we are not losing... so one side likely to be disappointed... let's hope it's not us. Start of a tough run of games.. could be season deciding!
1-1. Must admit I was toying with the idea of predicting 2-0 to Pompey but didn't want to be perceived as a negative bastard...........
My head is saying this is going to be a tough game, so would normally be happy not to lose. But I’m going with my heart, and I think we can sneak it. Clean sheet anarl!! 0-1 to The Lads. Bart
Must admit I’m a little worried about this one. They are the kings of ****housery and I’ve got a horrible feeling they’ll get one of our players sent off. That being said... Good luck to the famous men of Sunderland ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK
