PORTLAND United promise to “attack” during their Isuzu FA Vase first qualifying round tie with US Portsmouth tomorrow (3pm).

Kyle Critchell’s men welcome the RN to the Camp & Satherley Stadium looking to make rare progress in a cup competition.

The Blues have struggled in the major cups for the past five seasons but Critchell was unequivocal in his desire to leave nothing in reserve for this tie.

He told Echosport: “We’re excited to have a home fixture and one that will hopefully be an entertaining game for people to watch.

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“For creating memories and giving young lads the experience, of course we want to win every game and cup competitions do create those moments in football that sometimes you’ll never get again.

“We’re definitely going to attack the game and look to create a positive start. It also creates more opportunities for young lads.”

Critchell said: “In terms of the support from the committee, it’s fantastic. I didn’t know about the previous (poor) runs, so it would be nice to give them something back.

“We are really going to attack this game, play on the front foot and take it to our opponents and hopefully it will be one for the fans to enjoy.

“Hopefully they come and watch because it will be a younger side than usual. Hopefully they get behind us, we’ll put our best foot forwards and see if we can win.”

Asked if fellow Wessex League side US Portsmouth was a favourable draw, Critchell said: “It just gives us an opportunity to win the game.

“If we’re at home, we back our chances against anyone in our league or in any other.

“We know a little bit about Portsmouth, they’ve had a big overhaul in the summer because they’ve lost some of their better players.

“They’re going to come in as a little bit of an unknown commodity. As long as we do what we need to, we’ll give ourselves the best chance.”

Portland look set to be without player-coach Shaun Bessant (ankle), with George Stuttle, Jamie Symes, Ben Morris and Bailey Rowe all away.

Critchell said: “Shaun could be out for some time. We’re assessing his ankle but he shouldn’t have played on Saturday, and he did.

“These lads would normally be in the side. It gives others the opportunity to impress, which they should want to take.”

Winners of the tie take home £550, with the losers pocketing £160.