The hectic festive fixture schedule in League One comes to an end on New Year’s Day.
After an underwhelming Christmas period that has seen two points collected from three games, Pompey will seek a return to winning ways when Stevenage visit the south coast.
The visitors had an unexpected night off on Friday when their clash with Cambridge was called off due to a power failure.
But John Mousinho does not think that will have too much bearing on Pompey’s opening game of 2024.
The Blues boss said: “They’ll probably be a little bit fresher, but it also means they might be more predictable in the line-up they put out.
“Stevenage are in decent enough form and I think they would probably have preferred to get the game on.
"We can’t afford to waste 45 minutes like we did at Exeter on Friday night – we’ve got to be bang on it from the start."
“It’s another fixture that they’ve now got to fit in later in the season and I doubt they would want that.
“I don’t think it really affects us too much and instead we’ve got to be much more concerned with how we perform.
“They’ve had a very good campaign so far and have enjoyed plenty of wins, while it was a tough test at their place earlier in the season.
“We expect more of the same when they come to Fratton Park and so we need to be fully prepared for that.
“We can’t afford to waste 45 minutes like we did at Exeter on Friday night – we’ve got to be bang on it from the start.
“There’s not a huge amount of training you can do because of the quick turnaround – it’s more tactical, as well as the right rest and recovery.
“The standards we’ve set for ourselves have been high and we’ve got 50 points at this stage, which is a decent return, so now we’ve got to press on.”