Portsmouth face against Accrington Stanley knowing victory would secure a playoff spot

Sunday afternoon could either make or break Portsmouth’s promotion prospect for next season.

Pompey are on the verge of achieving a League One play-off place for a third successive season but they must beat Accrington Stanley on the final day of the season to do so.

Two clubs are on the Blues’ tail with Oxford United and Charlton Athletic sitting just one point behind the Blues.

‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ – Portsmouth missed out on promotion to the Championship last season after they lost to Oxford on penalties in the play-offs. Danny Cowley’s men will seek revenge by snapping up sixth place at the weekend.

The hosts will be full of confidence after going three matches unbeaten and they’ll be well aware of how threatening their opposition can be. Just two games ago, Pompey faced the Owd’ Reds in one of the most entertaining matches this season.

The match finished 3-3 at the Crown Ground with a total of 38 shots, a 91st minute bicycle kick and a 95th minute own goal. John Marquis thought he’d won it for the Blues with an instinctive acrobatic effort but four minutes later, Craig MacGillivray parried a shot against the striker’s shins to concede in the dying embers of the match.

Since then, Portsmouth beat AFC Wimbledon 3-1 in the most recent encounter courtesy of Ronan Curtis and a Lee Brown brace and will look to build on this momentum heading into the League One finale.

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Pompey boss Cowley said to The News he’s ready for the challenge:

‘For the players to have shown resilience, grit and determination to find a way of it being on our terms going into the final game of the season is tremendous.

‘What we have done is create an opportunity. The best players and best teams when presented with an opportunity take it – and that’s what we aim to do on Sunday.

‘We have given it our absolute best since we’ve been here and it has been a brilliant period in our life, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

‘We just want to get the right performance and then the right result on Sunday.’

Although Accrington Stanley have nothing to play for, they’ll want to finish their season strong having gone unbeaten in their last four league games.

Stanley boss John Coleman managed his side to a 1-1 draw against Charlton Athletic in their most recent outing after conceding in the 95th minute to Chukwuemeka Aneke.

It secured Accrington’s 13th draw of the campaign and allowed Charlton to close the gap on promotion rivals Portsmouth.

They’ve lost two and drawn in their last three final league matches of the season. Additionally, Accrington have failed to beat Portsmouth in their last three occasions away from Lancashire. The last time they beat Portsmouth at Fratton Park was in 2014, in a 3-2 win when both sides were in League Two.

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