Gaffer for a day: Notts County

It’s my 26th birthday tomorrow, so I am hoping Pompey can give me the perfect present by beating Notts County!

The Blues have been good on the road on their last two outings at Leyton Orient and Plymouth and I felt we were unlucky not to get the win at Home Park.

I agree with Paul Cook we were the better team and Plymouth were lucky to take a point from the game.

The fact we can outplay the league leaders in their own back yard is something that should give the players a lot of confidence.

In terms of Notts County, the danger man was Jon Stead but he is missing through injury which is a huge boost to our chances of getting the three points.

I remember Stead scoring goals for Blackburn when they were in the Premier League and he had been in great form for Notts County this term so that is a big slice of luck for us.

Our own attacking options give me cause for confidence, though, and in Conor Chaplin I think we have the best player in the division.

Him and Gary Roberts have been linking up well in recent weeks and with Kyle Bennett, who I have always liked, back impressing in the starting line-up, I feel we should be far too strong for the Magpies.

In terms of personnel, I would like to see one change to the side who drew at Plymouth last weekend.

Danny Rose was a little unlucky to lose his place in the starting XI a couple of weeks ago to Amine Linganzi and for his thunderbolt effort last weekend alone I would like to see him recalled alongside Michael Doyle in the centre of the park.

The most important thing, though, is to get the win and put right the last home defeat to Doncaster.

I’m going for a 2-0 victory with Chaplin and Roberts on target for the Blues!