Christian Burgess is aiming to make the most of his time back in the Pompey team.
Matt Clarke and Jack Whatmough was Kenny Jackett’s preferred centre-back partnership at the start of the season.
But a hamstring injury suffered by the latter gave Burgess a chance to stake his claim for a starting spot.
The 26-year-old did not sulk about having to spend time on the sidelines and knows that it is a squad game.
Burgess said: “You’re going to go through patches like that in football and I wanted to just face it straight on.
“I’ve got my head down, worked hard and made sure that I would be ready when the chance did come along.
“Now I’ve been given this little opportunity and have been trying my best to take it. It’s a situation you have to get used to quickly.
"It is a squad effort if you want to get out of this league and we’ve got a strong one with a lot of depth."
“Of course I prefer being on the pitch, but it is a squad effort if you want to get out of this league and we’ve got a strong one with a lot of depth.
“I’m sure the atmosphere will be rocking at Fratton Park against Wycombe on Saturday and hopefully we’ll have a bit too much for them.”
Burgess played the full 90 minutes as Pompey beat his former club Peterborough 2-1 last week to go top of the table.
He said: “I was happy to be involved and help get the win. It was billed as a big game and it’s nice to get one over them.
“The goal we conceded was disappointing, but the defence as a whole did really well and we worked our socks off all over the pitch.
“When you see everyone working hard, with that will to compete and not be beaten then it’s contagious.”