Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho says tonight’s game against Town at Fratton Park is something of a “free hit” for his side.

The match is the third attempt to stage the fixture following postponements in January and February due to a frozen and then waterlogged pitch respectively. The weather in Hampshire this morning is sunny, so there are no expectations of a third postponement.

Pompey go into tonight’s game having ended a run of eight games without a win by beating Middlesbrough 1-0 at the Riverside on Saturday via a 97th-minute goal scored by on-loan Town forward Conor Chaplin, who is ineligible tonight. Nevertheless, they remain fourth from bottom, a point off the relegation places.

“Ending on a high on Saturday should have lifted everyone’s spirits, although it was similar for Ipswich,” Mousinho told the Portsmouth official website.

“They had a good win in the derby earlier in the day, so I don’t think it will have too much relevance on this game.

“Our performances and results this season haven’t necessarily reflected where our opponents are in the table.

“We’ve beaten Middlesbrough and Millwall twice, so can hopefully take confidence from that, as well as how we’ve done since the international break.

“We find ourselves still above the dotted line with a big match on Tuesday and a few more to come after that.

“Our performances and results this season haven’t necessarily reflected where our opponents are in the table.”

“This is our game in hand and so we’ve got nothing to lose. It feels like a little bit of a free hit and we’ll look to disrupt Ipswich.

“They’ve really got themselves going and are a brilliant side – with probably the strongest squad at this level.

“As the season has progressed they have got better and better, which is why they’re second in the table with a couple of games still in hand.

“But we’ve been pleased with our recent points return and you see plenty of strange results at this stage of the campaign.”

Mousinho confirmed that right-back Zak Swanson will miss the rest of the season having undergone surgery for a knee injury.

“There was a chance he could have featured again, but when we balanced the risk versus the reward, it didn’t make much sense to wait for the operation,” he added.

“We’re hopeful of having Ebou Adams [who has been out with a knee injury] ready for the weekend, although there are still some things he needs to tick off over the next few days.

“We have obviously always known that we won’t have Conor Chaplin to face Ipswich, but it means there will be a chance for someone else.

“There are no new injuries picked up from the game on Saturday and we’ll just wait to see how a few tired bodies recover.”

Defender Connor Ogilvie is suspended following a red card in the Easter Monday 2-2 draw at home to Oxford United, while Aji Alese (quad), Mark Kosznovszky (knee), Josh Murphy (foot) and Franco Umeh (hamstring) are also all unavailable.

Photo: TWTD