Ipswich vs Portsmouth Preview

Managerless Pompey travel to Suffolk for a tough midweek fixture. Stuart Gray and Guy Whittingham will be looking to build on Saturday's vital win over Barnsley with a good result at Portman Road tomorrow. Team News Pompey's caretaker duo may well stick with the same side that won at the weekend but Dave Kitson is pushing for a start after his good performance coming off the bench in the last game. Paul Jewell is also considering naming an unchanged team after a five game unbeaten run for his team. Forwards Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Darryl Murphy are both pushing for starts after recovering from injuries. The Match Portsmouth may well be without a manager after the Dave Jones rumours were premature but that shouldn't quell optimism too much going into tomorrow's match. Should Stuart and Gray get the team playing like they did in the second half against Barnsley then there is every chance of getting a result at Portman Road. However, Ipswich are not unbeaten in five games for nothing and have come a long way since being thrashed 7-1 by Peterborough and 5-2 by Saints earlier in the season. They should be much tougher opposition than the Tykes were during the weekend and if their forwards find their shooting boots, then Pompey will be in trouble. Many eyes will be on David Norris as he returns to play against the club he served for three-and-a-half years following a cracking goal against Barnsley. However, Pompey fans will also be keen to see how the much maligned Ibrahima Sonko plays against the club he was loaned to last season. Ipswich's defensive improvement has been attributed to the centre back's arrival and so he may well be a completely new player. This will be a tough game and in honesty, I'm not expecting much from it due to the timing of the match. Had this been played earlier in the season when the Tractor Boys were dire or when we have employed a new manager then I'd be more optimistic. That's not to say I'll write us off completely. Now Steve Cotterill is gone I can say I'm looking forward to this game and perhaps a good result too. Predicted Starting Line-Ups Ipswich GK: David STOCKDALE RB: Carlos EDWARDS CB: Ibrahima SONKO CB: Danny COLLINS LB: Aaron CRESSWELL RM: Keith ANDREWS CM: Jimmy BULLARD CM: Grant LEADBITTER LM: Lee BOWYER CF: Michael CHOPRA CF: Jason SCOTLAND Pompey GK: Stephen HENDERSON RB: Greg HALFORD CB: Ricardo ROCHA CB: Jason PEARCE LB: Tal BEN-HAIM RM: Liam LAWRENCE CM: Hayden MULLINS CM: David NORRIS LM: Erik HUSEKLEPP CF: Luke VARNEY CF: BENJANI Click here for the Fratton Faithful Ipswich Town Championship Profile page. Last Time: Ipswich Town 0 Portsmouth 2 (Championship - 26/02/2011) After surviving a first half siege on their goal, Pompey turned the tide in the second half thanks to David Nugent who opened the scoring by firing past Marton Fulop from a tight angle in the box. Nugent then provided a perfect through ball for an onrushing David Cotterill who lobbed the Ipswich 'keeper to complete this smash 'n' grab victory. My Prediction Whilst I'm confident Pompey won't go to Ipswich and surrender, I have a bad feeling that this match has come at the wrong time and we'll end up narrowly losing this one. Oh ye of little faith. Ipswich Town 2 Portsmouth 1

Source: FOOTYMAD