Cowley: The Toughest of Draws
Tuesday, 22nd Nov 2022 10:22

Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley believes tonight’s Papa Johns Trophy round of 32 game against the Blues at Portman Road was the toughest tie they could have drawn at this stage of the competition.

Pompey finished second in their group, which meant they would be away in this round with Town having topped theirs.

“It's a great draw for us, the toughest of draws, but we always like playing against the best opponents because you naturally get instant feedback when you play against good teams,” he told the Portsmouth News.

“We look at Ipswich with a lot of respect — they've got the best squad in the division and, as a consequence, the best in the Papa John's Trophy.

“I think they're very well coached. I had the privilege of watching their game against Exeter on Saturday and they were very dominant and professional in that performance.

“For us, it's a cup competition that absolutely we want to be successful in and want to progress in.

“But there's an additional objective for us in this competition, in particular, in terms of developing our young players and giving them first-team exposure. You look at this cup competition already and it’s been successful for us.

“We've been able to give game opportunity to the likes of Zak Swanson, Jay Mingi and they've had really important first-team experience and exposure which has then allowed them, when called upon, to have a platform to put some consistent performances together. We will use that again tonight in the same way.

“We've got clarity with what we want to achieve in this competition and for us we know we’ll have to be at out absolute best, both in possession and out of possession if we want to be successful.”

Cowley will make changes to his more regular League One line-up with keeper Josh Oluwayemi, left-back Denver Hume and winger Reeco Hackett set to return.

The Pompey boss says youngsters such as defender Josh Dockerill and striker Adam Payce will again be in the squad having played in earlier rounds.

“Josh and Adam will be in the squad that travels,” he said. “For us, they're really young boys, they're only 17.

“If we'd had a home tie, then maybe we would have looked at starting them - that would have been our ambition.

“We still have that option but we have to make sure also that we set them up for success to make sure they are ready to come into a game and be successful and that’s our decision to make.”

Pompey will be without on-loan Town striker Joe Pigott under the terms of his temporary move, while Ipswich-born midfielder Joe Morrell is at the World Cup with Wales.

One-time Town target Michael Jacobs (hamstring), Tom Lowery (hamstring), Joe Rafferty (stomach), Jayden Reid (knee) and Louis Thompson (leg) are all sidelined with injury.

Photo: TWTD

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