McKenna: Two Teams in Good Form, It's a Really Big Game Friday, 11th Mar 2022 16:40 Town host fellow play-off challengers Portsmouth at Portman Road on Saturday aiming to further reduce the gap to the top six. Tuesday’s 2-0 home victory over Lincoln City saw the Blues move to within three points of the play-off places, while still ninth in the table as they have been for some weeks now. Portsmouth are two points and one place behind Town but having played two fewer games. They’re currently on a terrific run of form, unbeaten in seven, having taken 19 points from a possible 21, while scoring 21 goals in that time. Since manager Kieran McKenna took over at Town in December, the Blues have won nine of his 14 games, taking 30 points in that time, and at present are unbeaten in eight. Victory against Pompey would see the Blues having won three on the trot for the first time this season. In October, Town beat Pompey 4-0 at Fratton Park, but McKenna doesn’t believe that fixture will have any impact on Saturday’s match. “I’m just really looking forward to the game, I really am,” he said. “It’s two teams in good form, two teams playing well, two teams picking up points and it’s a really big game for both teams. “I think all the games in this league live their own lives, I’ve said that whenever we’ve played teams for the second time this year, I don’t think the first game has much influence on it. “Very often last week doesn’t have much influence on it, I think every game at this level lives its own life and can go one way or the other. “We’ll concentrate on performance, concentrate on knowing our jobs, going out to execute our game plan and play in our style and play how we play. “We’re very aware of what Portsmouth do well as a team and how we have to counteract that and we’ll just focus on ourselves, on getting the performance right and if we do that, then hopefully the result will take care of itself.”  He says the players similarly can’t wait for the match, although they feel like that every week. “They’re excited for the game. You can feel that they know it’s a really good game for us, but to be honest they’ve been excited for every game, they were excited for Fleetwood away, so that’s been a pleasing thing,” the Blues boss continued. “We’ve been insistent that every game is three points, to respect every opponent, no game is bigger than any other game - yet. That’s been our approach to every game. “We’ve done the same for this one, we’ve looked at it with exactly the same process as we do all games, we won’t build it up any more than it is, there are still nine games left, there are lots of points to play for, nothing is going to be decided on Saturday. “I think they’re excited because they know it’s a good team in good form and we feel like we’re in good form and we’re becoming a good team, and the players want to test themselves. “I said two games ago after the Fleetwood game that we’re going to see where we’re at. And this is another game where it’s against one of the better teams in the league who are coming here in good form, but we’re in good form, we’re at home and we’ll see where we’re at in terms our development as a team.” McKenna says he knows manager Danny Cowley and his brother Nicky from early in their respective careers. “In terms of them personally, I’ve come across them a couple of times in football, as you tend to do with most people, from when they were managing in non-league,” he said. “When I was at Tottenham as youth team manager they took one of our players on loan, so I was in dialogue with them then from many years ago. “I had a couple of interactions with them when they were at Lincoln, when they were manager and assistant manager of Lincoln, when I was involved in the youth team at Man United. “I’ve had a few different interactions with them over the years. I think you can say that they’re a management team who have done fantastically well, credit to them for the way they’ve improved and developed and had success with pretty much every team that they’ve been at. “It’s great to see their development and their pathway in football, quite an unusual pathway, but they’ve climbed through the leagues to manage some very big football clubs with Portsmouth being one of them. “In terms of their teams. I can speak mainly about Portsmouth because I’ve watched a lot of them this week. “They’re very well organised, very physically imposing, play with a really good energy and tempo, manage to get a lot of bodies and a lot of balls in your box but they do it with quality and variation. “There’s not just one aspect to how they get it there, they’re good at set plays, they’re good at direct play, they’re good at combining to find balls into the box and they’re good at working in wide areas to get crosses into your box. “When you watch them, it’s no secret why they’ve been scoring so many goals, they’re very good at getting the ball in an effective area and they’re very good at getting players into an effective area. “We know that it’s going to be a very challenging game, they’re on a good run. Beyond that, we’re confident in ourselves and how we’re playing and we know that we’re going to have to be at our very, very best and that’s what we want to be and if we do that then it’s going to take a good team to beat us.” The Blues will again be watched by another crowd of around 25,000, who McKenna says can continue to assist his side at Portman Road. “Fantastic, I think it’s been a big help in the home games,” the Northern Irishman, who has won five of his six matches at Portman Road, drawing the other. “Obviously we’ve got a good home record, I think we’ve only dropped points against Cheltenham in the recent games and I thought that was a really, really good performance and we were really well backed by the crowd that night as well, who enjoyed the performance. “It’s going to be great to have them with us. We got off to a flying start the other night and it’s easy for everyone to get behind the team. “Credit to the way they’re coming out in numbers and we know that in a game like this or some of the games coming up, it’s going to be important, there’s going to be some stage where we’re going to be behind in a game, where we’re not going to be ahead in the game at a late point where we really need that extra support and that extra backing and that extra energy from the crowd. “With the numbers that we get and with the support that they’re giving the team at the moment, we know that they’re going to be there for us in that difficult moment and when we need it we think that will help the players find the extra energy they need to turn a result in our favour. “The players are looking forward to it, it’s certainly a privilege at the moment, enjoying that privilege of having such a good crowd and I’m sure it’ll give us a good boost on Saturday.” McKenna will be forced into one change with Cameron Burgess set to replace the injured George Edmundson on the left of the back three alongside Luke Woolfenden and Janoi Donacien with Christian Walton continuing in goal. Right wing-back Wes Burns will be assessed in the morning having taken part in some of this morning’s training session after picking up a knock on Tuesday. If the Welshman doesn’t make it, then Kane Vincent-Young, who himself had been absent from training until today, will take his place. Dominic Thompson will be the left wing-back. Skipper Sam Morsy completed most of this morning’s training session and looks set to keep his place in central midfield with Tyreeq Bakinson again appearing likely to start alongside him. McKenna will almost certainly switch his front three with Joe Pigott or Macauley Bonne perhaps returning as the central striker - although Kayden Jackson could have done enough on Tuesday to keep his place - with two of Sone Aluko, Conor Chaplin and Bersant Celina as number 10s, and James Norwood also among the options available to the Town manager. Centre-half Elkan Baggott, 19, could be among the subs with the Blues short on senior central defenders. The Indonesia international has previously been on the first-team bench for League One games on two occasions without adding to his one Papa John’s Trophy start.
Pompey boss Danny Cowley admits that October’s home thrashing by the Blues was one of his most difficult evenings in football. “It was a tough night. I think in 15 years of football management, it will be in the top five tough nights for sure,” he told HampshireLive. “I think at the time, it was a game where in the first 40 minutes with very little between the two teams, a very competitive League One fixture. We made some errors which meant that we went in behind at half-time. “Probably at that stage, we didn’t quite have the resilience, the determination, the grit, maybe the togetherness within the group to come through those moments. I think that is something that has grown, something that we’ve worked hard on.” Reflecting further on why Pompey have made the significant strides they have since then, he added: “I think there has been some personnel change and work day in, day out has allowed us to bring the group closer together. “Certainly the culture is moving towards where we want it to be, still got work to do, will always have work to do. “Definitely making progress and I think now you see a team where when we do have difficult moments, are able to respond in a much more positive way. “You look at Accrington where you go down to 10 men, you look at being 3-0 down at Fleetwood. I think you’re seeing a humble group that are fighting hard for each other.” Cowley says he and his side will be looking to avenge the Fratton Park result at Portman Road. “We won’t fear Saturday,” the former Lincoln boss continued. “You can’t fear something you have created and the group, with 19 out of 21 points, have created this game, and the magnitude of this game has grown in terms of the run that we’ve been on. “You can’t fear something you’ve created. We’re going to bring the best of ourselves on Saturday, we are going to look forward to the challenge that the game will bring. “We still feel the pain of that October night at Fratton Park, we’ve kept that quite close. We’re looking forward to maybe putting some of the wrongs of that evening right on Saturday.” Portsmouth have a doubt over centre-half Hayden Carter, who suffered a calf problem during Tuesday’s 3-1 win at Crewe. Even if Carter makes it, Pompey will travel with only 15 fit senior players with summer Town target Michael Jacobs back in training after a knee problem but not expected to be ready to return to the squad. Marcus Harness is suspended having been red-carded in last week’s 4-0 victory over Accrington, while Reeco Hackett (knee), Shaun Williams (back), Jayden Reid (knee) and Kieron Freeman (ankle) are injury absentees. Historically, the Blues have won 20 games between the two clubs (19 in the league, one in the League Cup), 12 have been draws (11 in the league) and Pompey have won 16 (12 in the league). In October, Bonne, Chaplin, Aluko and Burns were on target in the Blues’ 4-0 win at Fratton Park. Bonne gave Town the lead with his 10th of the season four minutes before the break when he embarrassed home keeper Gavin Bazunu, then Chaplin netted against his old side on 54 and Aluko made it 3-0 four minutes later, before Burns added the fourth in the 75th to complete the rout. Last time at Portman Road, in December 2020, 2,000 Blues fans made a disappointing return to Portman Road for the first time during the pandemic as two first-half Ryan Williams goals saw Portsmouth to a comfortable 2-0 victory over the Blues. Williams, who hadn’t scored previously during 2020/21, gave his side the lead on 29 and added the second a minute before the break and Pompey could well have extended their lead in a second half in which they struck the woodwork twice. The teams had met at Portman Road in the FA Cup first round a month earlier when Sean Raggett scored a controversial 111th minute winner for Portsmouth in a 3-2 after-extra-time victory. Pompey scored two goals in two minutes via Ronan Curtis and Tom Naylor in the 11th and 13th minutes before Jon Nolan pulled a goal back for the Blues two minutes before half-time. Then, after Town had been denied a clear penalty for a foul on ex-Pompey frontman Oli Hawkins, sub Norwood made it 2-2 on 66 before Raggett won it for the visitors in the second half of extra-time when he stabbed home from close range following a free-kick but having very evidently strayed offside. Blues forward Chaplin joined Pompey as a six-year-old and progressed through their youth ranks into the first team before leaving to join Coventry in January 2019. He made 36 starts and 86 sub appearances, scoring 25 times. Pompey winger Jacobs came close to joining Town in the summer but, having passed a medical and with personal terms agreed, the Blues pulled the plug and opted to sign Kyle Edwards instead. Regarding that failed move, Pompey boss Cowley told the Portsmouth News: “I’ve seen a lot in football during my 15 years as a manager and I think that situation could have been handled better, for sure. “Michael is very professional and regardless of the opponent, always gives his best. It was a very difficult circumstance because I know it’s been well reported that Ipswich made an offer and the fee was accepted. “He then went and spoke to them before personal terms were agreed. He then passed a medical - then the move broke down. “Ultimately, Ipswich decided to take a player who had become available. These things happen. It did knock and affect Michael, but we were really pleased he stayed. “I think he knew he was coming back to a group who thought an awful lot about him and that made it easier for him to return.” Portsmouth midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe spent 2013/14 on loan at Town from Manchester United, making 24 starts and five sub appearances without scoring. Saturday’s referee is Christopher Sarginson from Staffordshire, who has shown 91 yellow cards and three red in 27 games so far this season. Sarginson’s most recent Town match was the 2-0 defeat at Charlton in December in which he booked Janoi Donacien and one home player. Prior to that, he was the man in the middle for the 4-1 win at Blackpool in October 2020 in which he booked Andre Dozzell and Myles Kenlock. Sarginson was also in charge of February 2020’s 2-1 defeat at Bloomfield Road, in which he cautioned Flynn Downes and three home players. Town felt they were denied a very strong claim for a penalty when Freddie Sears was fouled in the first half He also refereed the 2-1 home defeat to Coventry in an FA Cup replay at Portman Road in December 2019 in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout. Before that he officiated in the 1-0 win at Gillingham in September 2019 in which he booked James Wilson and Alan Judge as well as one home player. His only Blues fixture before that was the 2-0 home victory over Brighton in September 2014 in which he booked Cole Skuse, Jonny Parr, Paul Anderson and three of the visitors. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess, Baggott, Burns, Vincent-Young, Thompson, Penney, Morsy, El Mizouni, Carroll, Bakinson, Celina, Aluko, Chaplin, Bonne, Norwood, Pigott, Jackson.
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