The Portsmouth ace who needs to be on his best behaviour against Plymouth Argyle as potential two-match ban awaits

Coming just days after the Blues’ exhilarating victory against Leeds United, it promises to be another highly-charged affair as both teams continue their search for vital league points.

For Pompey, victory would see them stride down the home straight with even greater confidence that the race for safety had more or less been run. As for Plymouth, well, anything but a win over their south-coast rivals would consolidate their position at the bottom of the Championship pile and edge them even closer to a League One return after two seasons in the second tier.

We all await the outcome with huge anticipation! But while both teams battle for surpremacy, one Pompey player, in particular, will need to be on his best behaviour.

Midfielder Andre Dozzell goes into Pompey’s 37th Championship fixture of the season on nine league bookings. It’s the final game before the second suspension amnesty of the campaign kicks in. But if the 25-year-old gets into trouble with match official Matthew Donohue before proceedings come to a halt on Wednesday night and picks up his 10th yellow, then an automatic two-match ban is served.

That’s the last thing the Blues need at a time when Dozzell’s penchant for bookings equals the number of Pompey players currently requiring treatment in the club’s Hilsea treatment room! And with fellow midfielder and skipper Marlon Pack currently acting as a makeshift centre-half in the continued absence of Conor Shaughnessy, Rob Atkinson, Hayden Matthews and Ibane Bowat, Newcastle loanee Isaac Hayden offers the only suitable senior back-up if the former Ipswich and QPR man sits out a two-match suspension.

Head coach John Mousinho can, of course, take the jeopardy out of the situation by freshing up his starting XI for the visit of the Pilgrims and opting to rest Dozzell for this one. Rotation is something he told The News he would be considering in the aftermath of that tremendous victory over Leeds on Sunday. But with the midfielder starting the past seven games, demonstrating his worth to the team and proving to be a shrewd bit of business in the summer, there may be a reluctance to take him out of the equation when the goal of Championship survival is within touching distance.

Pompey players with most bookings

Dozzell’s last yellow card was picked up in Pompey’s 1-0 defeat at Luton two games ago, with his booking that day by referee Sam Allison taking him level with Callum Lang (9) for players getting into trouble with match officials.

However, there’s no danger of the Blues’ current top-scorer picking up a ban this term, with the Liverpudlian out for the season after suffering a hamstring injury in the victory against Oxford United on February 15th.

Pack’s seventh booking of the campaign against Stoke back on January 22 put him in real danger of serving a suspension before the 37th game of the season amnesty. But the 33-year-old has been treading the disciplinary tightrope very carefully and not got himself into trouble over the eight games played since.

After Wednesday night's match, the suspension rules will change to a three-game suspension for any player who reaches 15 yellow cards for the campaign.

For your next Pompey read: ‘Just excites you’ - £11m former Cardiff and Norwich man hailed as Pompey stand on brink of Championship safety