Club captain Harry Pickering admits that Crewe Alexandra did not do themselves justice at Fratton Park back in November with Kenny Jackett’s side running out deserved 4-1 winners.
Crewe started brightly enough but found ourselves 2-0 down at the interval after being hit on the counter-attack and a third goal for Pompey just minutes after the re-start made it a long afternoon.
The Alex grabbed a consolation goal late on after Oli Finney converted a dubiously given penalty in stoppage time.
Pickering says of this weekend’s visitors to Gresty Road: “We know that Portsmouth are a big club for this league and they have some very good players.
“We started well at their place but we made mistakes and they had the players to punish you. They were very quick and direct in attack and we found it hard going. We didn’t do ourselves justice and they seemed to score just when they needed to.
“When you face a team like Portsmouth and the players they have in attack and in wide areas then you know that they tend to have the ability to put the ball away if the chances come. That is what we found down there. You lose possession or are caught out of position and they really punish you.
“That is the major difference compared to League Two, the calibre of forward means you cannot make too many mistakes.
The left-back added: “We know we have to be better than we were down there and if we can put together another good performance at home, where we have been strong, then we can get the three points and put some pressure on those clubs ahead of us in the table.”