PORTLAND United assistant Sam Poole spoke of the difficulty of facing Baffins Milton Rovers and warned: “It’s going to be a battle up there”.

The Blues travel to Portsmouth looking to build on last Saturday’s 4-2 win over Alresford but also to issue a response to the 4-0 Wessex League Cup defeat by Romsey in midweek.

Ahead of the clash tomorrow (3pm), Poole told Echosport: “We know it’s going to be a battle up there.

“We know we’ve got quality in the team. We need to be more switched on defensively and give our strikers an opportunity to affect that game.

“We’ll still be going into that game looking for a reaction from Tuesday and hopefully we can use that to get a bit of fire in our belly.

“We’ve got a long trip up there but we’ll look to arrive in plenty of time to give the boys time to get the journey out of their legs.

“Baffins will look to come onto us but we’ll be looking to put our game plan on to them as quick as possible.”

READ MORE: Portland United 0-4 Romsey - match report

Portland have a number of ins and outs ahead of the trip to the Kendall Stadium.

Poole said: “Matty Burrows is still injured and Ben Morris will likely return to the squad.

“It was a precaution resting him (Tuesday) night. He’ll likely be fit.

“Harry Hutchinson and Franklyn (Clarke, boss) both return from isolation.

“Apart from that, we’ll just assess if there’s any injuries but the majority of the squad will be the same.”