Portsmouth

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There's a big game in the battle near the bottom of the Championship on Saturday (12:30 GMT) as Portsmouth head to Ewood Park to play Blackburn.

Rovers are 20th, two places and four points clear of the relegation zone, but a place and a point below Pompey, who also have a game in hand.

After back-to-back wins, Blackburn have lost their past two games, at home to Bristol City and at Derby last Saturday, having led in both games.

Blues have also followed two wins with two defeats, going down at Wrexham before being edged-out at home to Hull City on Saturday.

• Blackburn have won eight of their past 10 home league games against Portsmouth (L2), winning the past four in a row since a 1-0 defeat in the Premier League in September 2007.

• Portsmouth are looking to complete their first league double over Blackburn Rovers since the 1969-70 campaign.

• Blackburn Rovers haven't won any of their past 10 league games in the month of March (D4 L6) since a 2-1 win over Reading back in March 2023.

• This game will be John Mousinho's 150th league game in charge of Portsmouth – he's the 11th manager to reach that landmark, with only two of the previous 10 winning their 150th game in charge: Bob Jackson in December 1950 and Jim Smith in October 1994.

• No side has dropped more points from winning positions in the Championship this season than Blackburn Rovers (22, level with Wrexham), losing 3-1 from 1-0 up last time out against Derby.

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Earlier we asked what you make of the news that, from next season, the Championship play-offs will be expanded to include the teams finishing seventh and eighth?

It was announced on Thursday morning that EFL clubs voted in favour of expanding the play-offs from four to six teams.

Here's a selection of your comments...

Josh, Derby: I don't believe this is necessary. I do think that the play-off format should be aligned throughout the top five leagues, but expanding isn't needed. Better distribution of the monies involved and establishing a clear matchday structure to balance various men's and women's leagues would be a better use of everyone's time. This strikes me undue American influence.

Callum, Dartford: I think it's a good thing so teams can push for promotion that thought they wouldn't get near the play-offs.

Cato, Sheffield: If we adopted it to this season, it means that eighth-placed Derby (on 51 points) have about as much a chance of going up as third-placed Millwall (on 63 points). Plus, to accommodate the extra games, would they extend the season into June? I don't like the idea of it at all, and I hope it's short-lived.

Steve, London: Another example of football being ruined, week by week. Don't you dare think about implementing VAR too.

Mark, Stafford: As a Stoke fan, I think it's good news. The season has come to a grinding halt due to being decimated by injuries. Add to that, the quality of what is coming down from the Premier League, it would mean upsets can happen and still allow teams in that mid-table race to dream of greater heights!

Richard, Stansted: Absolutely ridiculous. What is the point of a league format if you are going to make it a bigger lottery to include even more teams at the end of the season? It also brings teams that are even less ready to actually be in the Premier League into scope. But mostly it's the undermining of the league format which makes no sense. I'm a Derby fan - and we look like we would have a chance of benefiting from this if it were in place this season.

Andy, Nuneaton: Anything that expands the opportunities for those outside of the parachute teams is a good thing. We need to get away from this elite view of the Premier League. If it was up to them, they'd stop automatic promotion and relegation and have a system like Rugby Union, where it's based on meeting certain criteria. The eighth-placed club in the Championship getting to the PL? Bring it on!

Ron, Hayling: Money, Money, Money. Players complain about the amount of games they play with the league games and cup competitions so the intention is to play even more at the end of the season. Owners will make some money but that's all that matters!

Barry, Dartford: Yes it's a fantastic for everyone, all the small teams as well as the big boys, to have something to play for. It will give the end of the season something to look forward to.

Benjamin, Poole: I'm a Charlton fan, so it's unlikely we'll come 8th in the Championship any time soon, however, this is ridiculous. More pandering to Americans to make it more likely they'll make money, which is the only thing they care about. Sporting integrity out of the window again. Shame as I felt the Championship was the last bastion of quality and integrity combined. Game has gone.

Broughton, Derby: Absolute ridiculous, put it back to the old days of three straight up, no play-offs. If you don't make top-three you don't deserve to go up.

Julian, London: The worst decision from a footballing point of view ever! The National League teams have been trying to change their system to be like the current EFL system so it seems a very strange decision for the EFL to take. You can finish 8th after 46 games and still get promoted - sporting integrity has been totally lost with this decision. Money over integrity every time!

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Shutterstock

It was announced this morning that EFL clubs have voted in favour of expanding the Championship play-offs from four to six teams from next season.

When asked by the Portsmouth News recently, John Mousinho said he wasn't in favour of this change.

In theory it increases Pompey's chances of promotion but eighth place feels a long way off, given their current Championship journey.

My intrigue is the motivation behind the move. Will more games at the business end of the season increase TV money for the EFL? Or are clubs thinking this increases the chance of promotion?

The gap between the Championship and Premier League feels massive. An eighth-placed side being able to survive, let alone compete in the top flight, feels unlikely.

Portsmouth will have defender Conor Shaughnessy available for Saturday's Championship match at fellow strugglers Blackburn Rovers (12:30 GMT).

The 29-year-old has only featured in nine league games this season after sustaining hamstring injuries on two separate occasions, but Portsmouth manager John Mousinho will be able to select him for the trip to Ewood Park.

"He's fine and will be available on Saturday," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"When we lost Conor at the start of January it was a big blow for us because at the time we didn't have a lot of cover."

Shaughnessy's absence left Pompey short of central defensive options, necessitating full-back Connor Ogilvie filling in.

"We went into the Southampton game with only one fit centre-half and Connor Ogilvie had only played there once at that point," Mousinho added.

"How well the back four have done since then has softened the blow."

Portsmouth are currently 19th in the Championship table, five points clear of the relegation zone, while their opponents, Blackburn are one place and one point below them.

Former Portsmouth defender Nathan Thompson has been reflecting on Pompey's attacking issues during their 1-0 loss to Hull City on Saturday - and thinks the problem lies with positioning.

"When you were seeing the ball going wide, the bodies in the box - it tended to be just Colby [Bishop] in there," Thompson told BBC Radio Solent. "That becomes very easy as a defender to mark if you've only got one guy to worry about.

"When you are getting in the wide areas, you need bodies in the box and that just wasn't happening on Saturday."

The loss means the gap between Portsmouth and the relegation zone remains a nerve-wracking five points.

However, Thompson is not worried about the side's potential for survival.

"The manager will be disappointed from Saturday but ultimately he will go, 'there's certain stuff we can work with here that will give us a real chance'," he said.

"Two weeks ago, the back-to-back wins gave them a really good opportunity in many ways."

Listen to the full episode of Who Needs Mourinho? on BBC Sounds

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Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent

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Another performance with many decent aspects but another blank in front of goal and another defeat at home.

Against Sheffield United at Fratton Park in Portsmouth's previous home game, Pompey made plenty of chances but could not convert them.

By contrast on Saturday, Hull's goalkeeper Ivor Pandur was hardly tested despite all the territory and possession Pompey had.

Given how limited promotion-chasing Hull were with their intent, Pompey should have secured at least a point. Adrian Segecic will not want to see the winner again.

It feels like this might be a blueprint for sides to take on Pompey at Fratton Park.

Teams have had more success on the counter-attack than they have had trying to outplay the Blues.

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Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has confirmed winger Josh Murphy will miss the rest of the Championship season with his broken foot.

Murphy has been out since he was injured against Derby on 20 December, missing the past 13 games.

The 31-year-old had a scan on the fractured metatarsal in his right foot and Mousinho said it had not healed as quickly as they had hoped.

"Josh is out for the season unfortunately, the foot hasn't healed," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"It's a massive blow and you could see today. We had three centre-backs on the bench and in a game like this where we need a bit more attacking impetus, yeah, that's a massive blow for us."

Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho spoke to BBC Radio Solent following their 1-0 home defeat by Hull City.

"I am very disappointed with the result. We controlled pretty much the entire game," he said.

"Ultimately we came away with 21 shots, Hull had two, we completely shot ourselves in the foot with the goal. The manner of the goal was completely unacceptable.

"I thought we didn't have quite so much control in the second half, it makes it more frustrating in a way.

"Today was one where we really should have taken advantage."

Image source, Coventry City FC

You might not hear the old terrace refrain of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' as often as you used to, but it still has a better ring than 'the shirt's not fit for you to wear'.

Championship leaders Coventry City launched a new collection on Friday, proudly taking inspiration from a kit widely dubbed the 'Worst of All Time'.

A take on the club's infamous brown change strip worn away from Highfield Road from 1978 to 1981, the modern reinvention features what the club calls "a deeper chocolate plum colour with sky blue elements".

Many would suggest it sounds tastier than it looks.

But it's got us thinking... what are actually the worst EFL kits of all time? Let us know which of your club's shirts is hiding in the back of the wardrobe, or even if they were too ugly for you to even part money for them.

We'll collate a list of the biggest eyesores and will give you the chance to vote on the ghastliest of all next week.

Click here to let us know your suggestion, and you can even attach a picture if you really want to convey the horror.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Shutterstock

At this point of the season, it's normal to have a group of players coming to the end of their contracts. It's also common for negotiations to go on to the back burner until the end of the campaign.

This is what happened at the end of Pompey's promotion season from League One and to a lesser extent last summer.

But it's not the case this time around. John Mousinho has been open that talks are ongoing, external and a quick look at the starting XI in recent weeks would help explain why.

Connor Ogilvie has played pretty much every match when he's been fit this season. Zak Swanson has appeared in 28 of Pompey's 33 Championship games. Both have impressed away from their regular position. You don't want to lose players like this.

Marlon Pack and Andre Dozzell have both been strong contributors again. Pack might be 34 but is still impacting matches. Dozzell hasn't managed to maintain his brilliant form from the first couple of months of the season but is always solid and dependable.

Keeping all four, or at least attempting to, would seem sensible - although Portsmouth's current plight complicates things.

Income is higher in the Championship than League One, therefore wages are higher. While Portsmouth have put themselves in a good position to avoid relegation their fate is far from certain, which doesn't help.

Jordan Archer hasn't even been registered to play this season so will surely depart. Reuben Swann and Harry Clout have failed to set the world alight on non-league loans. They are both still young and can improve but seem some way off playing in the Championship.

Toby Steward has had an excellent loan spell in Scotland with St Johnstone, although it's understood his contract is not set to expire this summer. There's belief that he can challenge for the number one jersey in the future.

Portsmouth's football set-up means Mousinho doesn't deal directly with agents. That side of the business is handled by Richard Hughes, allowing the head coach to focus on footballing relationships with his players. He still has a say in club business but distances himself from negotiations.

There are only nine weeks left of the EFL season. We may not have to wait that long for contract news at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth go into this game five points clear of the Championship's relegation zone although a two-game winning streak on the road was ended by defeat at Wrexham on Tuesday night.

For their part, Hull City halted a two-match losing sequence by beating Derby in midweek and will hope to complete a first league double over Pompey for nearly 60 years.

• Portsmouth are winless in their past four league games against Hull City (D2 L2), last having a longer run against the Tigers between 1974 and 1980 (D3 L2).

• Following their 3-2 win in November, Hull City are looking to complete their first league double over Portsmouth since 1966-67.

• Portsmouth lost their past home league match and have only twice lost consecutively at Fratton Park since the start of last season (September 2024 and October 2025).

• Hull have won their past four away league games, last winning five in a row on the road in April 1966 in the third tier.

• Joe Gelhardt has scored more away goals than any other Hull player in the Championship this season (five), and has netted four goals in his past six starts on the road.

"You think Oxford will have to go some to catch Pompey from here, but you can see Leicester winning three games in a row, especially under Gary Rowett, you can see someone coming in and turning West Brom around with the players they have got, it feels like Michael O'Neill has already turned Blackburn around.

"There still isn't an obvious third team who are going to go down.

"To me the massive elephant in the room is Leicester. It's a total mess from the football authorities. They are appealing against the six-point deduction, the Premier League are appealing because it's only six points, wanting 12 to 20 points.

"They said they want to get this done by the end of the season but if this drops at the end of April, whether they stay up or not could ultimately could come down to the points deduction, which is what nobody wants, and didn't have to be the case."

BBC Radio Solent's Chris Wise and Andrew Moon look back on a big win for Portsmouth at Millwall as well as the defeat by Wrexham.

They also discuss the situation at the bottom of the Championship including the elephant in the room in the relegation battle.

Your questions are also answered in Moon's Musings.

Click here to find more episodes and subscribe to the Portsmouth FC page on BBC Sounds.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

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It feels easy to describe that defeat as "one game too far" for Portsmouth. In some ways it was, but in others it was a match that got away.

Pompey were dominant for much of the second half but struggled to carve Wrexham open. They paid for a very poor second quarter and once again failing to defend a near post corner.

Losing John Swift to a hamstring injury is a blow but at least it comes at a time when Conor Chaplin is fit again. This run of games was always likely to challenge Pompey's thin squad.

At Millwall, Portsmouth put in a 90-minute performance. They could not match that against Wrexham and they still lack a cutting edge at times. But this team remains in a decent place.

The bottom of the table is fairly chaotic and things can change quickly but keep playing as they have been and Pompey should survive.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho praised his side for an excellent second half performance despite losing 2-1 at Wrexham on Tuesday night.

"The old cliche, it was a game of two halves," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"I think we completely dominated the second half. I was really disappointed with the first goal, the second was a set-piece that stems from a foul but the less we say about that the better.

"I thought it was really poor officiating all night and it was just a shame that we gave ourselves so much of a mountain to climb because we were superb in the second half.

"Coming off the back of the third away game on the spin, coming here against a side that has just run riot at home, I thought we were much the better side.

"It was one of those nights if it had been 1-0 at half-time, the outcome is probably different. We finished strongly, we looked really fit, we need to show a little bit more belief on the ball.

"A lot of improvement, I thought we made them look very ordinary in the second half."

Portsmouth forward Conor Chaplin will be available for the side's visit to promotion-chasing Wrexham on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

The 29-year-old has missed the past three games with a groin problem but will be ready for the trip to Wales.

However, there is still no return date for winger Josh Murphy, who has been absent for 11 league games so far after sustaining multiple injuries.

"Josh is waiting for his final consultancy check-up," boss John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent. "No idea [on his return date]. We will see on Thursday."

Meanwhile, defender Conor Shaughnessy, who has been on the sidelines since January with a hip injury, is expected to return a week on Saturday for the game away to Blackburn Rovers (7 March, 12:30 GMT).

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

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Tom Chappell
Portsmouth fan writer from Fournilwrittenalloverit

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When writing on Wednesday morning, I described Pompey's mammoth result at The Valley as our biggest away win of the season. Four days later and four miles across London, we had an even bigger result at The Den.

The power, physicality and combativeness from our January additions, coupled with a noticeable uptick in both performances and results is no coincidence at all.

Pompey have now already won more away games than in the whole of last season with seven still to play on our travels.

John Mousinho's side started strong from the off and probably reached the break the happier side at 0-0, albeit after a pretty tight opening 45 minutes.

The afternoon's defining moment came when man of the match Gustavo Caballero tucked the first of the afternoon away from the tightest of angles just after the restart.

He had absolutely no right to score from that position yet he did so emphatically and Pompey were up and running. That set the tone for a fantastic second half and meant Pompey were firmly in the ascendancy for the vast majority of the game thereafter.

Two impressively similar John Swift and Marlon Pack goals were punctuated by a momentary defensive concentration lapse - that aside, Pompey had turned up to the third-best side in the Championship at this moment and put on a pretty humbling display for them.

With the double completed over two clubs in a week and six goals on the road from five different players in four days, Pompey are performing much more like a top-end side than one down the bottom. And they became just the fifth side to beat Millwall at The Den this season.

If we were to go and get something, or even win at Wrexham on Tuesday, this might well go down as the best week on the road in Mousinho's tenure.

Any of us would've taken a four-point return from these three away games - and it's maximum points so far.

Watch more from Tom and Fournilwrittenalloverit by clicking here, external.

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Wrexham will aim to strengthen their grip on a Championship play-off spot as they entertain Portsmouth on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

The Red Dragons saw-off Ipswich 5-3 on Saturday to make it 11 points from their past six games to lie sixth, three points behind the fourth-placed Tractor Boys, though the seven sides below Phil Parkinson's side are separated by just four points.

Back-to-back 3-1 wins at Charlton and Millwall have taken Pompey 19th, six points clear of the relegation zone and made it 10 points from their past five away games for John Mousinho's men.

• Wrexham have won two of their three home league games against Portsmouth, though did lose the last time they hosted them in January 1983 (0-2).

• Portsmouth have lost four of their past five Championship away games against Welsh sides (D1), already going down 1-0 at Swansea this season.

• Portsmouth have lost just three of their past 25 league games against promoted sides (W15 D7), though those three defeats have come in each of the past three seasons (Leyton Orient in 2023/24, Derby in 2024/25 and Birmingham in 2025/26).

• Wrexham have lost just one of their past nine midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games (W3 D5), going down 2-0 at Hull in December.

• Portsmouth have won just one of their past 10 midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (D3 L6), though it did come in their most recent at Charlton last week (3-1).

• Portsmouth have only won one of their past 27 away games in the second tier against sides whose name begins with 'W' (D13 L13), beating Walsall 2-1 in April 2003.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Getty Images

A stunning result and a fully deserved victory. This was not a smash-and-grab or counter-attacking performance. Portsmouth more than matched Millwall's intensity and created more opportunities.

The midfield trio of Ebou Adams, Marlon Pack and John Swift looked beautifully balanced. Connor Ogilvie and Regan Poole are an excellent defensive partnership, and Gustavo Caballero and Millenic Alli caused problems on the flanks all day.

Crucially, Pompey's set-piece defending has significantly improved. To outplay Millwall in both boxes is some achievement given where Pompey were less than two months ago.

The January signings have transformed Portsmouth. They still have a lot of work to do to secure their Championship status, but right now they do not look like a side battling at the wrong end of the table.

However, injuries continue to limit John Mousinho's options. Maintaining these levels for two more matches this week in an intense period will not be easy, but Pompey are not a side you would want to play at the moment.

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Boss John Mousinho says Portsmouth's recent improvement can be traced back to the impressive performance in the defeat against Arsenal in the FA Cup at the start of January.

Pompey are now six points clear of the Championship relegation zone following the win over promotion-chasing Millwall - their third win in four matches.

"I know we lost to Arsenal [in the FA Cup], but we were excellent on the day and we've replicated those performances away from home," Mousinho said.

"I think it's come from a reset after [losing to] Bristol City, and a recognition of the fact that we can do both sides of the game pretty well when we put our minds to it.

"To come here and win, against the third best team in the league - we've watched them time and time again be a very impressive side, home and away from home - is very pleasing.

"They've got threats all over the pitch, so to do that off the back of Tuesday [win over Charlton Athletic] was really pleasing. I thought we were excellent throughout."