Portsmouth are preparing to face Harrogate Town in the FA Cup second round on Saturday, December 4. The Pompey manager Danny Cowley has spoken out on the game on Saturday.
Yeah, very much so. FA Cup second round, greatest Cup competition in the world. Lots of respect for Harrogate. Know Simon Weaver reasonably well, done an amazing job there with his dad, obviously, he is the Chairman, came through the divisions, I think two promotions in the last three years. They broke mine and Nikki's heart last summer when they went to beat Concord Rangers in the FA trophy final at Wembley. We were there to watch that and yeah, just lots of respect for them as a football club. Really, I think it’s a team that epitomizes their manager, I think really humble really hard working and a fantastic skill set. And yeah, we obviously know some of their players that have come from non League and know that we will have them very toughest of games come Saturday, and we will need to be our very, very best if we're going to find a way to go through this tough fixture, - said Cowley when asked how much he is looking forward to visiting Harrogate.
The last time the teams faced each other was back in 2019 when Portsmouth celebrated a 2-1 victory.
I remember watching that game on BT Sport. My last memory of that was Ronan Curtis's goal from distance. He got a great goal that day. But yeah, I mean, they're a team that have been together for a long while. They run really, really hard for each other. I think they playe in a really progressive positive way, carry lots and lots ofgoal threat. And yeah, a team that we admire a lot and like I said, we're going to have to be our very, very best the best version of ourselves if we're going to get on the right side of what will be a tough game, - said Cowley.
Portsmouth are currently dealing with several injuries and Cowley has spoken out on squad rotations.
We haven't gotten any players. So we're really down to bare bones, in terms of injuries. A lot is going against us off the pitch. But like we've said in recent weeks, we're looking to find solutions, not excuses.
Cowley's side are currently on a six-game unbeaten run with the latest two games being away games against Lincoln City and Gillingham.
Well, I think the key is, the better you do, the harder you work. So we've had it we've had a tough week. We've worked continue to work on our game and the principles that are so important to us, both in possession and out of possession. We were pleased with the outcome last week to have three league games and to pick nine points up which was fantastic, particularly when you consider the the last two games were away from home and were tough, tough journeys, is not no more difficult place to go then Gillingham, but I think, you know, we're always looking to improve and although we were pleased with the outcome on Saturday against Gillingham, I think we could upload more live and more fluency and we could be executed better certainly in the final third. So we've been working on that this week and will hopefully take that into into Saturday's game, - added Cowley.
