Former Everton man looking to cause major Portsmouth upset following shock Sheffield Wednesday triumph

The Greens will make their maiden trip to Fratton Park off the back of a shock triumph against second-placed Sheffield Wednesday last Sunday.

The bottom-of-the-table side edged the promotion hopefuls 1-0 victory at The New Lawn and represented the new head coach’s first win in charge since his arrival in January.

Despite propping up the League One table for the majority of their first season in the third tier, last week’s shock three points has installed new hope in beating the drop as they look to claw back an 11-point deficit.

And Ferguson has made a bald claim that his men use their victory over Sheffield Wednesday as ignition to kick start their escape, which starts at Pompey on Saturday.

Speaking on the Forest Green YouTube channel, he said: ‘We believe we have been seeing progression, the way we’ve set up and the way we’ve been playing, unfortunately we haven’t got over the line.

‘We managed to get across the line on Sunday and it’s given everyone a boost and a belief that we can compete and win matches which has been great.

‘It’s another massive match at Portsmouth. We’ll be the underdog again and we’ve got to make sure we compete and give it everything we’ve got.

‘It was a big result, nobody was expecting us to beat Sheffield Wednesday other than the people at the club.

‘I’ve had the belief that we can win most of the games we’ve been involved with.

‘This is another (game) we believe we can go and get points. If they’ve underestimated us in the past, i'm not sure, but this would’ve woken a few up.’

Forest Green will make their maiden trip to Fratton Park as the two sides meet for the second time in history.

Pompey edged the reverse contest 1-0 in October but Ferguson insisted the Blues’ home will present his side with further issues.

He added: ‘They (Pompey) are on a good run of form and have only lost three games in their last 10. A strong team and they’ll be the favourites of course.

‘They’ve got a good striker, scores a lot of goals so we’ll have to deal with him but we’re up against it as we know but we’ve got a bit of confidence from the Sheffield Wednesday game so why not let’s get in there and have a go.

‘They’re a big club. It should be a big crowd there.

‘They’re matches you want to play in, big atmosphere with a lot of fans so hopefully we can turn them over.’