AFC Portchester have a ‘free hit’ as they go in search of an FA Cup upset at Wimborne Town

The Royals manager was hugely disappointed by his side's performance against Fareham Town in midweek.

They suffered their first defeat of the season losing 2-1 against opponents who showed a far greater appetite.

Portchester failed to show composure on the ball and resorted to banging long balls up front.

Wimborne, who play two levels above in the Southern League Premier South, will present Catlin's side with a huge test.

'We have to view this game as a chance to make amends but it isn't going to be easy,' he remarked.

'If we are going to cause an upset then we must recapture the form from our first two games.

'We will go into the tie as underdogs and must look to make that work to our advantage.

'In a way it is a bit of a free hit for us.

'We will certainly need to defend better than we did at Fareham and also show a bit more composure on the ball.

'A few of our players got caught up in the emotion of a local derby.

'Fareham punished our mistakes and over the 90 minutes deserved their win.

'They had a good workrate and that is what we will need to cause an upset at Wimborne.

'We have to be prepared to go there to frustrate them and hit them on the counter-attack.

'It is important that we stick to our game plan.'

Ex-Pompey Academy midfielder Oscar Johnston is back from his trials in Sweden and comes straight back into the squad.

Catlin is also hoping that Ellis Martin will be fit to return after missing midweek through injury.

Pete Castle is suspended and Josh Hanratty is still serving his concussion protocol.

The visitors are likely to make a couple of changes to their starting line-up.

'At Fareham a few of our key players looked a bit jaded,' said Catlin.

'We may look to freshen things up a bit and a few changes are possible.

'This will be Wimborne's first competitive game whereas we have already played three times.

'Hopefully we are a little bit more up to speed and can use it to our advantage.'

Portchester could come up against one of their former players in Dorset - defender Callum Chugg having made 11 appearances under Catlin last season.

The Magpies have also signed former Southampton forward Jake Sinclair, who made a single first team appearance in the League Cup against Barnsley in 2013.

He later made three Scottish Championship appearances in a loan spell with Hibernian before falling out of the pro game.

He linked up with Wimborne after stints with Hereford, Frome Town and Mangotsfield United.

Portchester, meanwhile, have never met Wimborne in a competitive game.

Wimborne won the Wessex League in 1992, 1994 and 2000 - all under ex-Gosport Borough boss Alex Pike - before winning promotion to the Southern League after finishing runners-up in 2009/10, just a few years before Portchester reached the top flight.

Wimborne went up again from Division 1 South & West in 2016/17.