Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley makes Ipswich squad claim and spells out team selection policy for latest Portman Road visit

Pompey travel to Suffolk for a mouth-watering round of 32 tie with just one win in six in all competitions.

Victory would provide a real confidence boost at a time when four consecutive league draws have seen the Blues drop out of the play-off positions.

And it would be even sweeter against a side who are among the clear favourites for an automatic promotion spot and who ended Pompey’s unbeaten League One start at the beginning of October.

To do that, Cowley admitted his side would need to be at their very best – irrespective of what opposite number Kieran McKenna decides to do with starting XI.

Yet despite aspirations to go far in the competition, the Blues boss said he would not sacrifice his want to utilise his squad and hand key minutes to those in need of match action.

As a result, that’s likely to see Josh Oluwayemi, Denver Hume and Reeco Hackett recalled, youngsters Zak Swanson and Jay Mingi keeping their spots in the team, and academy youngsters Josh Dockerill and Adam Payce travelling with the squad to Portman Road.

However, Joe Pigott is not available against his parent club because of the terms of his loan.

When asked by The News how he’d approach the game, Cowley responded: 'With enthusiasm and energy!

‘It's a great draw for us, the toughest of draws, but we always like playing against the best opponents because you naturally get instant feedback when you play against good teams.

‘We look at Ipswich with a lot of respect – they've got the best squad in the division and, as a consequence, the best in the Papa John's Trophy.

'I think they're very well-coached. I had the privilege of watching their game against Exeter on Saturday and they were very dominant and professional in that performance.

'For us, it's a cup competition that absolutely we want to be successful in and want to progress in.

‘But there's an additional objective for us in this competition, in particular, in terms of developing our young players and giving them first-team exposure.

‘You look at this cup competition already and it’s been successful for us.

‘We've been able to give game opportunity to the likes of Zak Swanson, Jay Mingi and they've had really important first-team experience and exposure which has then allowed them, when called upon, to have a platform to put some consistent performances together.

'We will use that again tonight in the same way.

'We've got clarity with what we want to achieve in this competition and for us we know we’ll have to be at out absolute best, both in possession and out of possession if we want to be successful.’

Cowley said Dockerill and Payce will be in contention, having played in previous rounds of the competition.

But he admitted there remains a duty of care when it comes to their continued development.

'Josh and Adam will be in the squad that travels,’ said Cowley.

'For us, they're really young boys, they're only 17,

'If we'd had a home tie, then maybe we would have looked at starting them - that would have been our ambition.

'We still have that option but we have to make sure also that we set them up for success to make sure they are ready to come into a game and be successful and that’s our decision to make.’