Pompey boss: We must sharpen up attacking ideas

Although, the Blues’ leading scorer still has an outside chance of declaring himself fit to face Plymouth.

Pitman missed out on Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Peterborough through a hamstring problem.

Pompey’s skipper, though, yesterday informed Jackett of his availability to take on the Pilgrims tomorrow (3pm).

The Blues boss remains cautious and considers Pitman a ‘doubt’.

He will now leave it late before deciding whether to include the former Bournemouth man.

In the meantime, Jackett must discover how to unlock Pompey’s attacking power without their 12-goal talisman.

He said: ‘A big strength of ours has been our wide men in Matty Kennedy and Jamal Lowe, in particular.

However, I don’t think either of them affected Tuesday night particularly well.

‘With a home game tomorrow that can change, but getting the service to them is sometimes different and we want to do that.

‘If we are without Brett Pitman, it’s about having an attacking threat and working out a way to get the strikes off and scoring the goals.

‘We didn’t have that cutting edge on Tuesday night. While it was close and it was competitive, we didn’t do well enough in possession and didn’t get enough rhythm.

‘When Conor (Chaplin) came on, obviously he got the goal and was the one that got the most shots in, even with half-an-hour. I was pleased with his contribution.’

Definitely out of the Fratton Park clash is Christian Burgess, who is serving a one-match ban.

– NEIL ALLEN