How serious will Eddie take the Capital One Cup?

It's not good news for Pompey supporters, because I think Eddie Howe would like nothing better than to add some silverware to that lovely new trophy cabinet AFCB has in its club shop. That would mean fielding a pretty strong side for the Portsmouth game on Tuesday night. To go out in the first year against Oxford on penalties was just heartbreaking and sent all the wrong signals out at the start of last season. AFCB needs a good cup run this tie around.

Portsmouth have just played Oxford Utd of course and they suffered a heavy 1:4 home league defeat so they will be licking their wounds. But the pre-season game we hosted against Pompey was only a 2:1 win and as usual Pompey give their all against us. I see the Capital One game as one of no pressure for Pompey players, apart from Guy Whittingham wanting to see a reaction from his players. That means it will be no easy game for the Cherries.

With Coulibaly limping off on Saturday and Ryan Fraser taking some heavy knocks it is possible that Andrew Surman could come into the starting side. It could also be a chance for Richard Hughes to play against his old team or Eunan O'Kane could come in. It is certainly likely that Tommy Elphick will need some game time having missed out at the weekend. I missed his pre-match ritual last game. Pitman too is likely to feature along with Flahavan or Jalal. So I see a pretty strong line up for the Cherries.

It's about time we did better in the cups so let's hope we can start doing that tonight. UTCIAD!