A trip to Ireland can give Pompey's 2018-19 warm-up the perfect start.

Kenny Jackett has organised the five-day trip for his squad and believes it will enable a good bit of bonding to take place.

They will play Irish top flight outfit Cork on Monday, July 2 - with the only game of their pre-season programme confirmed so far a trip to new residents of the National League premier Havant and Waterloovile on Saturday, July 7.

Jackett told The News: 'We didn’t go away last year, but I think doing so is good for getting players together, good for spirit and good to generate focus before the start of the season.

‘Ireland is a realistic one for where we are as a club and what we have to spend. You can reduce travelling time, it’s a good climate and our supporters can get over there reasonably easily as well.

‘It has a lot going for it and is somewhere I have been to on quite a regular basis. Although we have been to different places in Ireland, they are areas we know and are fairly low risk in terms of making sure they go well.

‘For a manager, you don’t want it to appear disorganised to players, in particular at the start of the season.'

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