No friends on the field as US Portsmouth get set for massive Wessex League Premier Division meeting with number of familiar faces at Moneyfields

The USP management and squad will come up against a number of familiar faces at Dover Road (7.45pm).

Former US Portsmouth boss Glenn Turnbull, his coaching staff and several players swapped Burnaby Road for Moneyfields in the summer.

In fact, five of the side who started alongside Jeffes for USP's FA Vase semi-final loss to Binfield last season lined up from the outset in Moneys' 2-0 win over AFC Portchester in the same competition at the weekend.

US Portsmouth player-assistant manager Jeffes revealed he still remains in contact with a number of his former team-mates now with Moneys.

Yet he stressed there will be no niceties on the pitch at Dover Road when the teams battle it out, with both sets of players determined to get one over on the other.

Jeffes said: ‘I’ve got a huge amount of respect for a lot of those boys. Things worked out the way they did (in the summer), I hate the saying, but it is what it is from that part. They made that decision and some of the memories we’ve had over the past two years wouldn’t have been possible without a number of those boys as well.

‘They’re fully respected from my part, from the club’s part and from Tom’s (Grice; US Portsmouth manager) part as well, but we need to do the business on Tuesday.

‘I tend to keep myself away from that sort of stuff (messaging in build-up). Me and Caino (Tom Cain) spoke last night (Saturday evening) and I still speak to the boys.

‘It’s one of them, friendships aside for Tuesday maybe, and see where we go then.’

US Portsmouth's preparation for such a massive occasion could not have been any worse after a 6-1 hammering at Fareham on Saturday.

Jeffes admitted his men must raise their level if they are to come away with anything at a Moneyfields side who will be just as determined to send USP crashing to another heavy defeat.

Jeffes said: ‘The dangerous thing is Moneyfields will be exactly the same (raising level for the game).

‘We go into it - nothing changes for us - we’ll treat it as any game. That’s the big thing, it’s another game where three points are at stake, we’ve lost 6-1 (against Fareham) but it’s still only three points.

‘It’s a case of dusting ourselves down and we’ve got to hit the ground running on Tuesday.

‘There are probably six or seven lads (at Moneyfields) who were here last season.

‘You don’t need to tell them the importance of it, they’ll do it for themselves, it’s there.'