Gaffer: Stick with winning Portsmouth team at CoventryÂ

Gaffer for a day Matthew Butcher, aged 30, from Hackney, gives his pre-match thoughts on Pompey's trip to Coventry...
Brett Pitman. Picture: Joe PeplerBrett Pitman. Picture: Joe Pepler
Brett Pitman. Picture: Joe Pepler

Injuries permitting, I would like to stick with a winning team for the trip to Coventry.

Bringing Brett Pitman back into the side for Oli Hawkins is good news '“ and clearly worked very well at Rochdale on Saturday.

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I fancy us to win this one. I was at Peterborough and thought it was going to be really tough. It was hard fought but we came through.

Coventry are not in the best of form and not looking pretty at 14th in League One.

At the moment our front three are brilliant and it works really well. Pitman, inset, coming in there gives us different strengths to Hawkins, with the skipper more likely to get on the end of stuff.

The stand-out performer so far has to be Ronan Curtis. Jamal Lowe is brilliant '“ and continues to be '“ but Curtis is a real threat and creates as much as he does score.

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I don't follow Irish football, so it's quite hard to gauge the level over there. It was interesting to see how Curtis performed after coming over and he has proven explosive.

With him on one wing and Lowe on the other, whenever they get the ball you draw a sharp intake of breath because you know something interesting is going to happen.

In terms of attacking players, it seems a lot of strength in depth is there.

I would be disappointed if we didn't win at the Ricoh, we have double their amount of points already.

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People talk about promotion but I don't really want to curse us, although from what I have seen we've a good chance.

We have good options, but should injuries ever come along then it can change quickly.

It feels exciting around the place at the moment, there's a buzz around, and it was a brilliant atmosphere at Peterborough.

The team have gelled really well. The signings in the summer have taken this club a big step forward.