Boss wants longer unbeaten run
Pompey are hoping to make it an unbeaten October.
Guy Whittingham’s side have won three and drawn one of their four games this month.
This weekend they travel to face a Torquay side sitting just one place above the League Two drop zone.
And Whittingham believes a few more wins are needed before he can claim that Pompey are at their peak.
The Blues boss said: “We’re doing okay, but it’s only been three league games since we played York.
“You look at Rochdale and they’ve won eight of their last nine – that’s what I call a good run.
“We’re getting there. It’s been slower than we’ve wanted, but we’ve had injuries and suspensions along the way.
“But you have to deal with those and we’ve got a squad now that we feel is a fairly decent size.
“Now it’s about making sure that we’re all in it together and everyone has to progress because there’s competition for places.”
Pompey beat Torquay in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at the start of September and the Devon side have won just once since.
Whittingham said: “I keep hearing the word ‘struggling’, but it doesn’t take a lot to turn things around.
“This league can throw up some funny results, as we’ve seen in the last week with the teams at the top dropping points.
“We have to prepare properly, knowing that they’ll be doing exactly the same.
“Alan Knill’s a good manager who will have his side well organised. They’ll know our strengths and weaknesses.
“There will be expectations put on them at home and we’ve got to make sure we don’t make it easy for them.”
Sonny Bradley misses the Plainmoor clash after picking up his fifth booking of the season in Tuesday night’s abandoned match against Wycombe.
David Connolly (calf), Tom Craddock (knee) and Marcos Painter (calf) are also all absent.
Whittingham said: “We knew for a while that Sonny was one game away from suspension, but you have to ask that if the game and goals are wiped out, why aren’t the bookings?
“David had an injection last week and now has to take it easy for a couple of days. Hopefully he’ll be back in training in 10 days or so.”