Portsmouth poised to make wholesale changes for Cheltenham trip with Ipswich game on horizon

The Blues boss made 11 alterations to the team that faced West Ham’s under-21s in their final group game last month.

That included debuts for youngsters Harry Kavanagh, Charlie Bell and Alfie Stanley, while academy products Harvey Rew and Eoin Teggart were also handed rare starts.

Jackett is unlikely to go as youthful for their trip to League Two Cheltenham, with a place in the next round at stake.

However, with fringe players needing game time and Pompey away to Ipswich on Saturday, it will be a completely different team that started Saturday’s 2-0 win against Peterborough.

Alex Bass, Paul Downing, James Bolton, Rasmus Nicolaisen, Bryn Morris and Jordy Hiwula are all expected to feature from the opening whistle.

Meanwhile, Haji Mnoga and Bell are likely to be given the chance to build on their first-team appearances this term.

Teggart, Rew, Kavanagh, Stanley and Gerard Storey are likely to be available from the bench,

Hosts Cheltenham are currently enjoying their best ever start to a league season, with Saturday’s win against Exeter cementing their place in the top two.

With the Robins facing Salford and Bolton in their next two games, manager Michael Duff would love to freshen things up for the visit of Pompey.

However, he admitted his squad is down to the bare bones.

He told Gloucester Live: ‘We’ll be bare bones. Quite a few are carrying knocks.

‘Some we'll patch up and we'll put out the strongest team we can obviously.

‘We want to be competitive and try to win the game as we have done with every game this season.

‘There were a few walking wounded on Saturday, some more visibly than others, so we'll see where we're at and take it from there.’

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