John Mousinho: Portsmouth boss expecting 'tough encounter' at Plymouth

Portsmouth's game at Plymouth on Saturday is a sellout

Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho is expecting a "tough encounter" against League One promotion contenders Plymouth on Saturday.

His side have two wins, a draw and a defeat since he was hired to replace Danny Cowley, who was sacked last month.

"Plymouth are a very good and well organised outfit," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"I know their manager Steven Schumacher is an excellent coach who has really got them going this year."

Portsmouth drew 2-2 with Plymouth earlier in the season thanks to an injury-time equaliser from Reeco Hackett-Fairchild.

Pompey are 10th in the League One table and Mousinho believes they are trending in the right direction: "We are gradually introducing new things and that will always be the case.

"Even if we had a blank slate in pre-season we would still do the same thing and gradually introduce new ideas.

"This is a new group to me and we have four new additions compared to a month ago, so there is a lot of drip-feeding that you have to do to make sure you don't overload them with information, but at the same time there are a lot of opportunities to put work in."

Atmosphere 'will be amazing' at Home Park sellout

Pompey had a behind-closed-doors game against AFC Wimbledon in midweek where a number of players were able to get some much-needed game time.

"It was a really good exercise," Mousinho added.

"There were quite a few players that needed some minutes, which will be really useful if and when they are called upon to come into the league side."

Portsmouth are nine points off the play-off places with 19 games left this season, and Saturday's game at Home Park is a sellout.

"We have sold out the away end which is absolutely amazing.

"It's going to be brilliant to see our fans out in force.

"I think when you sellout away ends you can sometimes reverse the atmosphere, so hopefully they can do that."