A starting line-up that fans saw at Pompey's open training session may not be the one that takes the field for the opening game against Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday.
A decent number of supporters took advantage of the open house to see Paul Cook's squad in action against a Hawks academy team.
Matt Tubbs led Pompey to a 6-0 win, his four goals added to by Matt Clarke and Gary Roberts.
Pompey lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Keeper Paul Jones featured behind a back-four of right-back Ben Davies, Christian Burgess, Clarke and Enda Stevens.
Michael Doyle and Nigel Atangana occupied the two sitting midfield positions, with Roberts, Kyle Bennett and Gareth Evans in front of them, supporting Tubbs.
Keeper Brian Murphy and frontman Conor Chaplin came on after the break.
But Cook told The News: ‘Don’t read too much into the starting line-up .It was just a case of the lads who have had the most minutes getting the game. The lads who haven’t had the minutes played at Burnham last night and then we will pick the team (for Dagenham) from there. Competition for places is huge.’
Cook was happy with the open training game, adding: ‘All in all, it was a very worthwhile exercise. It was good for our lads to get their first experience (of Fratton Park). Certainly the pitch looks in really good condition.
‘Hopefully, we can keep on top of that because we are obviously going to try and pass the ball and play. The ground staff do their best to get us the best pitch to play on and our job is to produce the best football.’
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