Portsmouth visit The Ricoh on Saturday on the back of a poor run of form while Coventry are in confident mood following impressive back to back away wins and taking 12 points from a possible 15. Pompey have lost six successive games and have dropped into the relegation zone, while Coventry have steadily climbed out of the drop zone up to 15th place.
Portsmouth are waiting to hear if they will be able to select Gabor Gyepes and Lee Williamson as both are doubts. Williams has a knock while Gyepes had heart palpitations during their game with Leighton Orient and is to see a doctor. Neither player has trained this week.
Pompey’s caretaker boss Guy Whittingham said, ‘Gabor’s waiting to see the doc and have a check out to see what the problem is. He’s not trained. We are going to check on Lee Williamson. He didn’t train yesterday but we will look at him. With the others it’s just knocks and bits and pieces you get from playing.’
Ricardo Rocha will probably figure in the Pompey side and if he plays will be given the task of keeping the in form Coventry striker David McGoldrick quiet. Whittigham knows a little about McGoldrick’s qualities.
Whittingham said ‘I remember David at Southampton. He’s a fantastic player at this level. He was one of the first players, when I was in my PFA role as a coach educator, that I took on a coaching course, with players like Dexter Blackstock and Nathan Dyer.
‘He’s a nice lad, a real handful and he’s getting a few goals, but we have someone of Ric’s calibre and if he is needed to step in there I’d have no qualms about him doing that and taking up the gauntlet – because he’s that type of player.’