US Portsmouth aim for ‘statement’ result in midweek Wessex League derby with Moneyfields at Westleigh Park

US have won four of their last five Wessex Premier games, the best run in their short step 5 history.

All of those wins have come against teams 11th or below, though, with a game against sixth-placed Moneys a real test of USP’s improvement.

‘I expect it to be frenetic to start with,’ said USP boss Fraser Quirke. ‘All PO postcode derbies are exactly the same. Once we get past the first 15/20 minutes, hopefully there will be some good football on show.

‘It will come down to who can take their chances, and who can show the most quality.

‘There’s a lot of personal pride for the players who all know each other, but I’m more interested in how we play against a well organised side.

‘It would be a statement if we could get a result against a top six side and in a PO derby.’

USP’s recent run has hoisted them to seventh from bottom, 12 points above the relegation area.

But Quirke - who was Glenn Turnbull’s assistant at Moneys last season - is remaining realistic.

‘I’m not looking up the table, I’m still looking over my shoulder to see who’s behind us,’ he said.

Quirke’s son, Cameron, scored the last-gasp leveller that earnt USP a point against Moneys last February at the Victory Stadium.

The midfielder is suspended on Tuesday, however, after collecting his fifth booking of the season in the 4-0 drubbing of Laverstock on December 17.

Kelly Nwaehi and Reece Frost are unavailable, while striker Simon Woods’ knee injury is taking longer to heal than expected.

Moneys have striker Dec Seiden - one of a number of ex-USP players in their ranks - back from a two-game suspension.

He missed the loss to Horndean and the 3-3 draw with leaders Portchester due to being red-carded for dissent at Stoneham.

Jack Chandler, another member of the USP side that reached the FA Vase semi-finals two seasons ago, is serving the second of a three-game ban. He completes his suspension when Christchurch visit on Friday.

Turnbull said: ‘We might experiment with a few things in the coming weeks with an eye on next season. We might try something different on Tuesday.

‘We haven’t been able to train much recently, and with seven games in January we’re not going to be training much this month.

‘It’s been a case of showing players something on a whiteboard in the dressing room and then deploying it straight away.’

Moneys are bidding for a seasonal double against US, having beaten them 3-0 in early October with goals from Chad Cornwell, Tom Cain - currently out injured - and Chandler.