Portsmouth boss eyes Watford reunion as he bids to keep Cup hopes alive at QPR

The Blues resume their interest in the competition after drawing the initial game against the Championship outfit 1-1 at Fratton Park.

Pompey are the only team out of League One’s top six teams still involved in the Cup.

And while that participation continues to bring extra revenue into the club – £180,000 goes to the winner of tonight’s game in prize money alone – the Blues have seen their title aspirations dealt several blows in recent weeks.

They are currently on a run of four games without a league win, with their two most recent games – an away defeat to Luton and a home draw against Doncaster Rovers – combining to see them drop out of the two automatic promotion places.

Jackett takes his side to a resurgent Plymouth on Saturday, knowing that the team needs to keep pace with those currently above them in the table – Luton and Barnsley.

However, he’s desperate for the Blues to put in a performance against the R’s tonight and continue their Cup involvement – with a fifth-round home tie against Premier League Watford the reward that lies in wait.

‘When the cup games come, we want to win and going on a Cup run is exciting for the supporters and exciting for the players,’ said Jackett.

‘For any League One or League Two club, a Cup run can really help you financially.

‘It’s a big part of your budget so we want to do as well as we can.

‘We’ve had a good run in this competition and our thoughts aren’t on Saturday until we’ve played tonight.

‘We look forward to the game, we have done well so far to get through. It was a good performance at Fratton against QPR and a draw was a fair result.

‘We look forward to going to Loftus Road to try to keep the Cup run going.’