Danny Cowley had described Pompey’s performance in their Easter Monday win at Wigan as ‘tired’.
But he will not be using that as an excuse when his side welcome Burton to the south coast this weekend.
The hosts are aiming to record a fifth successive victory, having already seen off Ipswich, Shrewsbury and Rochdale before their trip to the DW Stadium.
And Cowley expects the five-day gap between fixtures to have reinvigorated Pompey ahead of their latest test.
The Blues boss said: “Tiredness is normally a state of mind and if a lion jumped out of a bush, you wouldn’t say you were leggy. You’d run away!
“The lads have had a couple of extra days than what they experienced between Rochdale and Wigan.
“There’s been lots of valuable work on the training pitch during the week, although one of our most important jobs is to manage the load of the players.
“Working with the sports science team, you want to make sure that they’re fresh enough to perform at their best.
“We’ve been able to regenerate, refocus and recharge – now we’re in a really good place to face a competitive Burton team.”
"Tiredness is normally a state of mind and if a lion jumped out of a bush, you wouldn’t say you were leggy. You’d run away!"
The visitors looked doomed to the drop when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink returned as manager at the turn of the year.
But a remarkable change of fortunes has seen the Brewers move up the table and eight points clear of the drop zone.
Cowley said: “He’s done an outstanding job. There’s obviously a history with him at that club and it’s a relationship that definitely works.
“They weren’t just at the bottom of the table when he came in, they were adrift. But the run they’ve been on has been fabulous.
“He’s got them fighting hard and playing with a really direct style, so there will be plenty of balls into the box.
“They’ll ask questions of you defensively at every opportunity and what he’s done has been remarkable.”
Sean Raggett was taken off towards the end of the Wigan game following a sickening clash with Callum Lang.
Cowley said: “You would have seen the pictures on social media that show how battered and bruised his cheek was.
“He did a little bit of training on Thursday because he was adamant that he wanted to be back out on the grass.
“The x-ray came back clear, but that’s only 2D and so he went to see a surgeon and we’ll know more soon.
“It’s a lot better than we thought initially, though, and that’s a huge positive. Sean is about as tough as you get.”