Pompey make their first trip to Cleethorpes for a decade and half this weekend looking to become the fifth side to beat Grimsby Town on their own patch in League Two this season.

The Blues have not played since their recent good run of form was halted by a 2-1 home defeat by Stevenage a fortnight ago, a result that left them five points off a coveted top three spot.

Last weekend that gap increased to seven points as Doncaster won to go top and push Plymouth down to third, so Pompey will know they cannot afford to carry on in such an inconsistent manner if they're to break into the automatic promotion spots.

Both sides have been without competitive action for the past fortnight and Pompey head to Blundell Park with only Curtis Main and Jack Whatmough on the injured list and with fresh legs.

Midfielder Gary Roberts told the Pompey website: 'In this league you don’t normally get a week off at any time, so we were able to get some good training into us. There were also a couple of days of rest and now we’re ready to go again when we visit Grimsby.

'It was nice to go into training at the start of the week feeling fresh, although it was a bit boring last Saturday. But it was good to be able to go home and see the family, especially because we’ll be in all over Christmas.

'The Stevenage game feels a long time ago now and we had a mad five or so minutes in the second half that cost us. Some people were waiting for us to fail after the Luton game because it’s happened before and we just provided the fuel.

'There was then no game to immediately look forward to, so the defeat dragged a little longer. We let ourselves down and have to put that right.

'It’s a hard place to go and we know what we’re up against. They’ve got some really good players and we’ll have to be up for it.'

Grimsby go into the game only five points behind Pompey, in 11th place, and look like having a solid season of consolidation, perhaps including an outside chance of the play-offs, following promotion from the National League via the play-offs.

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