Fratton freedom is Pompey's aim
Friday, 5th Feb 2016 22:30 by pompey-fans.com staff

Have the freedon of Fratton - that will be Paul Cook's message to his players before he sends them into action against Leyton Orient on Saturday.

If the Blues are to keep alive their hopes of a top-three finish over the coming weeks they'll need to win more than they don't win to keep pace and draw level with Oxford, who occupy that vital third spot at present.

Pompey head into this weekend's action six points behind Michael Appleton's men and successive home Saturdays - with fellow promotion hopefuls Bristol Rovers the visitors next Saturday - could be pivotal.

Cook wants his players to focus on their performance rather than get bogged down by the pressure of points and positions. He told the club website: 'There are 19 games still to go and so many points to play for, so we can over-analyse results.

'They come thick and fast now and we just have to focus on trying to pick up as many positive results as we can. When you’re involved in Pompey — as a player or a manager — then there will be pressure on you.

'So if you then put even more pressure onto yourself it can become difficult to handle. The most important thing for us on Saturday is that we recreate the first half performance from the Bournemouth game. If we do that then the likelihood is that Orient will have their hands full.

'So we can’t focus on the pressure that people put on us or that we put ourselves under — we just need to go out and play with freedom.'

Adam Webster looks unlikely to get over a hamstring problem, which should mean a start for Christian Burgess alongside Matt Clarke.

Danny Hollands is still out of the midfield equation, with Adam Barton and Ben Close vying to partner Michael Doyle.

up front Michael Smith is likely to make his home debut.

Orient are ninth and are getting used to life under new boss Kevin Nolan.