Howard: Preston will be prepared

Preston arrive at Fratton Park with a reputation for being exceptionally well-drilled under manager Graham Westley.

The former Stevenage boss is known to work his players hard in long double sessions to get his message across.

Howard believes that is seen in their threat at set-pieces and Pompey will have to guard against that when they meet the Lilywhites.

Howard said: ‘I think they are a hard-working side and are well organised.

‘I’ve heard they do a lot of hard work on drills.

‘I think they are in for all sorts of hours.

‘That sounds like the way their manager does it. He sounds a bit old school.

‘We’ll do a lot of work on what they are like, like we did for Tranmere.

‘There will be a lot of hard work with Guy and Awfs to get ready for Preston.’

Pompey go into tomorrow’s game looking to end a run of four defeats on the bounce at Fratton Park.

But they have picked up two impressive draws from their past two testing away games.

Howard feels that counts for little if home games aren’t won.

He said: ‘We’re expecting a tough game but we are at home and it’s about time we started getting three points from those games.’

‘We’ve picked up two good away points.

‘But two good away points are only good if we win our home games.’