Kenny Jackett takes Pompey to Scunthorpe this weekend with a big hint that his recent revolution can now slow to a mere evolution.
The Pompey boss indicated that the many changes he had made to his starting line-up would settle now he he had brought in a group of new players amd had introduced more energy to the club.
As he warmed up for the awkward-looking visit to Glanford Park, he told The News: 'The window has closed so it’s clear, consistent formation and clear, consistent team selection after a period of change.
‘I felt at the start we were functional and competitive but I didn’t think we were sparkling. I didn’t think we had enough energy and I felt we were going through games without creating too many chances. Hence we wanted to make some changes. Some have come through players being injured or people coming back from injury.
'We’ve had some key ones. Thompson and Clarke have come back and played very well. They’ve really helped us. But, yes, it’s energy, attacking force and the ability to create chances.
‘We’ve won two out of three and the one we lost we could have won on any other day. It wasn’t a bad performance at all. We want to build on that and play with that attitude and energy.’
He expects a tough test from Scunthorpe, who are among the early-season League One pace-setters. He told The News: 'We’ll respect Scunthorpe but we can’t be frightened of any team. We need to be competing in this league and meeting everyone head to head if we can.
‘We want to be a force ourselves and everyone else to worry about us. That’s where we want to get to. We’ve had some energy and ability to create chances. ‘We’ve had some ability to go past people one on one and cause people problems. Scunthorpe are an established team in this division and had a good year last year.'
Brett Pitman can play despite his broken nose and Jackett is unlikely to tinker much - if at all - from the side who disposed of Fleetwood last week.
Pompey are looking for their first win at Scunthorpe in more than half a decade. JFK was still with us and the Big Freeze was only just beginning to thaw when they last won there - in March 1963. That was their second win there this season but their efforts since were summed up by their February 2014 visit, which saw Richie Barker's team lose 5-1.
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