Boss wants everyone together against Morecambe
Pompey are hurting after two of their worst performances of the season.
Defeats at Plymouth and Aldershot have rightly seen the Blues come in for plenty of criticism from the stands.
But Andy Awford has issued a rallying cry ahead of this weekend’s clash with Morecambe at Fratton Park.
He is hoping that a unified stadium can help Pompey maintain their impressive home league form.
The Blues boss said: “It’s been a tough 48 hours. We’ve all had a big kick up the backside and now we need a reaction.
“We’re ready to go again and we know that we need to get three points on Saturday.
“Everyone’s in this together and the response from everybody – from the chairman and chief executive to coaching staff and players – has been fantastic.
“I know the supporters will rally around us as well. We’re going through a tough time at the moment, but there’s still a unity here.
“I’m not necessarily after silky, sexy soccer on Saturday, but we need a hard-working performance full of grit and determination.
“But we need the fans to put in a performance as well. We want to make the stadium a cauldron, so it’s impossible for Morecambe.”
There will be a couple of new faces in the squad after Pompey swooped to capture the loan signings of defender Matt Fish from Gillingham and midfielder Marcus Bean from Colchester.
Awford said: “After Wednesday I felt we needed new personnel to freshen things up.
“You can choose to drift along as you are and hope things turn around or you can decide to make some changes.
“I’m always on the look-out for players, but it did become more urgent after what happened at Aldershot.
“We put some phone calls in to the respective clubs on Thursday morning and we’re grateful to
Colchester and Gillingham.
“I spoke to both of the lads and they couldn’t wait to get down here – that’s all I needed to hear.”
Joe Devera is a doubt for Saturday with the hamstring injury that kept him out of the FA Cup defeat.
Meanwhile, Danny East and Adam Webster are both back in training, although the Morecambe clash comes too soon for them.
Pompey are 17/20 favourites with Sky Bet to win on Saturday. Open an account at www.skybet.com/pompey for the chance to win £250,000 for the club to spend in January.