Sadler confident Pompey Ladies can deliver Cup result

The Blues travel to Rovers in the third round of the competition and the boss knows his troops have the quality to deliver a result against their Women’s Premier League northern division opponents.

After a second-half comeback in the last round at AFC Wimbledon, confidence will be high in the Pompey camp.

Sammy Quayle and Amelia Southgate were on target at Gander Green Lane after Isabelle Asplund gave the hosts a half-time lead.

It’s the Blues’ first game back after the festive break and Sadler is relishing the tie.

The manager said: ‘We know we have got the quality and we’ve got the belief to go up there and gain a result.

‘We feel it’s vitally important that we kick off 2018 with a win and continue to play well.

‘We go into the game off the back of a four-game winning streak, which is brilliant.

‘It’s not ideal we didn’t have a game before the Christmas period due to the weather.

‘We have got to go into the tie with our game plan and hope the result will be a by-product of that.

‘We’ve got to go there and enjoy it, take the game to them and hopefully we can come away with a victory.’

Like Pompey, Blackburn started their FA Cup journey in the second round and cruised to a 4-1 victory over Loughborough.

Gemma Donnelly’s side are fifth in their league, but have only played seven matches – winning five, drawing one and losing one.

Nevertheless, Sadler is adamant the Blues can match their opponents.

He added: ‘They are only fifth in the league because they have played a hatful of games less than teams around them.

‘They won their league last season – I got to see them play against Tottenham in the play-off.

‘We’ve played some good sides in our league this season and I think the difference between the north and south divisions is very slim.’