Trophy not a distraction
Jackett: Trophy won’t get in the way of League One promotion challenge
KENNY JACKETT has dismissed Pompey’s ongoing Papa John’s Trophy progress as a ‘distraction’.
And he believes the Blues can continue their pursuit of another Wembley trip without it impacting upon the priority of securing a Championship return.
Pompey tonight head to Cheltenham Town (7pm) as 2019 holders and 2020 finalists in a competition where they have excelled in recent times.
Jackett will make 11 changes for the second-round tie, keen to preserve his favoured League One starting line-up and grant first-team minutes to other squad players.
And he is adamant that approach will not diminish promotion ambition, which currently sees the Blues occupy fourth spot.
Pompey’s boss told The News: ‘We will change all 11 from Saturday and, without any injuries or suspensions, we will be quite strong.
‘It’s a balance of our substitutes and young players.
‘We have a lot of players available at the moment, so we can dovetail quite a bit of experience with some young players coming through. It has resulted in us putting out a very well-balanced team.
‘This competition is not a distraction, not at all.
‘Saturday is Saturday, it’s Ipswich. It’s a big game, then we’ve then got Fleetwood, then Hull, followed by the Christmas period and it’s exciting.
‘Tonight we will concentrate on this game and, as a club, will do everything we can to win it.
‘There are no problems that way. I don’t feel there’s a clash, and I believe it’s a wellbalanced team which will play.
‘Winning is winning, you have to try to win as many games as you possibly can. It’s hard, it’s not easy to win games of football. People think it’s just a given, it’s not, it’s tough.
‘Whenever you can, you have to adjust for different competitions in the season and see if you can keep progressing.’
Pompey are likely to operate with three central defenders at Cheltenham, enabling James Bolton, Paul Downing and Rasmus Nicolaisen to all feature.
That will see Haji Mnoga and Cam Pring as the wingbacks, with Ben Close and Jordy Hiwula sure to start.
Jackett has admitted second-year scholar Charlie Bell will be named in the lineup, with Alfie Stanley also involved.
It represents a stronger side than the one which saw six home-grown debuts in last month’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham United under-21s.
There is once again likely to be an inexperienced bench serving as back up as Jackett seeks to protect his first-team regulars.