Portsmouth v Port Vale preview – Valiants face tough test on the road…
Darrell Clarke’s side take on one of the division’s bigger sides as they travel to the South coast…
Match Info
Venue: Fratton Park stadium
Date: 15th March, 3pm
Competition: League One
Predict the score
Pre-match thoughts
We know how tough Fratton Park is as a place to play. But we have had a couple of great away results this season and we will need another great performance to pick up the win on Saturday. We will be taking the game to them; trying to win the game, get on the front foot, play our football and produce a better performance than Saturday, which was a little bit out of character from our previous five in my opinion. We were certainly poor on Saturday so let’s try and get that performance spot on, on Saturday.
Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke
Preamble
It was a bitterly disappointing Saturday for the Valiants as they fell to a 3-2 loss to Burton Albion. It’s clearly an even tougher ask to take anything home from the trip to Pompey so the odds are clearly stacked against Darrell Clarke’s side.
Port Vale team news
As usual it’s tricky to predict the Vale line-up but one area of concern will be in defence. Lewis Cass and Dan Jones have both been out injured and with Will Forrester injured against Burton it meant a League debut for Derek Agyakwa (pictured). A second appearance and a full ninety minutes away at Portsmouth is likely to be a tough ask for the youngster so Vale will be hopeful that one of Forrester or Cass is fit enough to play in this game.
Opposition team news
The home side will be missing influential midfielder Joe Morrell who is on International duty with Wales. Tom Lowery has returned from injury and may be an option on the bench.
Form guide
One bright spot for the Valiants is that Pompey lost their last home game against Sheffield Wednesday. However, that represents just their second home loss of the year.
Port Vale: L-W-D-L-L
Portsmouth: W-W-L-L-W
Man in charge
36 year-old John Mousinho was a somewhat surprising choice to replace Danny Cowley earlier this season. Appointed in January, this is his first managerial appointment and he has a promising 57% win ratio so far.
Familiar face
Port Vale top-scorer Ellis Harrison will be making a return to one of his former clubs at the weekend. Harrison now has ten goals for the season for the Valiants – half the number of goals he managed in three seasons for Pompey. The striker was signed from Ipswich Town in 2019 for a fee believed to be £450,000. However, the forward managed just twenty goals in 84 games and was released in 2022. After a brief spell with Fleetwood Town, he joined the Valiants in August for an undisclosed fee.
Vintage connection
Flying winger Mark Chamberlain had distinguished spells with both clubs. Chamberlain progressed through the youth ranks with the Valiants and was selected in the Fourth Division all-star team for 1983 after a dazzling start to his football career. After 110 games and twenty goals he attracted the attention of bigger clubs and he was transferred to Stoke City for a fee of £180,000 in August 1982. He made an immediate impression in the First Division and was capped by England by December. He moved to Alan Ball’s Portsmouth in 1988 and made 167 appearances during a six year spell with the club.
Through the years…
The two sides first met in 1924 when the Valiants suffered a 2-0 defeat. It took until 1977 for the Vale to record a win – that came in a 1-0 win at Vale Park thanks to a winning goal from striker Mick Cullerton. The Vale’s last trip to Fratton Park, in 1999, ended in a 0-0 draw.
Last time we met…
The Valiants suffered a 1-0 loss at home earlier this season with Spurs loanee Dane Scarlett scoring the winner for the visitors.
From the archives
Here are some clippings from a vintage Portsmouth programme welcoming Port Vale to Fratton Park for a League Cup clash in 1968…
A brief history of…
Portsmouth were founded in 1898. The team won two consecutive League titles in 1949 and 1950 as well as the FA Cup in 1939 and 2008. Portsmouth are also one of only two English football clubs to have been champions of five professional divisions including the former regional Football League Third Division South championship.
Were you paying attention?
Our traditional quiz…
- Who is the current Portsmouth manager?
- What was the score the last time the two teams met?
- In which year were the club formed?
- When did the two sides first play each other?
Answers below (no cheating)…
Quiz answers…
- John Mousinho
- Port Vale 0-1 Portsmouth
- 1898
- 1924