Notts County v Portsmouth preview

Team news for Saturday's League One clash between Notts County and Portsmouth at Meadow Lane.

Last Updated: 21/09/12 at 13:00   

Hughes: Hoping to start

Hughes: Hoping to start

Jeff Hughes will hope to regain his place in the Notts County starting line-up when Portsmouth visit Meadow Lane.

Hughes, County's leading scorer last season with 17 goals from midfield, returned from injury as a 77th-minute replacement for Francois Zoko during the 1-1 draw at MK Dons on Tuesday night.

Alan Sheehan did not recover from a hamstring problem in time to feature in Milton Keynes, as Carl Regan kept his place in the team, but the left-back could come back into the reckoning against Pompey on Saturday.

The club's appeal against Andre Boucaud's red card at Oldham last weekend was unsuccessful so the midfielder will serve the second game of his three-match suspension.

County set a new club record of 11 away league games without defeat against MK Dons, and manager Keith Curle said: "I'm very proud, not only as a manager but of the players who have achieved it. Now we must forge ahead and make it as many games unbeaten as possible.

"But we didn't celebrate the record as the biggest thing is going to be where we finish at the end of the season. We have a massive game against another big club on Saturday and there are another big three points at stake."

Portsmouth have no new injury problems and could be unchanged.

Defender Kevin Long is still struggling with a back problem so Gabor Gyepes, who made a swift return from an ankle injury to face Swindon on Tuesday, is set to partner new signing Lubomir Michalik at centre-half again.

Boss Michael Appleton was encouraged by a change in Pompey's formation despite the 2-1 defeat by the Robins.

Captain Brian Howard was pushed into an advanced midfield role flanked by Jordan Obita and Jack Compton, with Izale McLeod up front.

Defenders Ashley Westwood (ankle) and Alex Grant (knee) are still in the treatment room and on-loan midfielder Conor Clifford this week returned to parent club Chelsea.

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npower League 1

Position Team P GD PTS
1 Doncaster 46 18 84
2 Bournemth 46 23 83
3 Brentford 46 15 79
4 Yeovil 46 15 77
5 Sheff Utd 46 14 75
6 Swindon 46 33 74
7 Leyton Or 46 7 71
8 MK Dons 46 17 70
9 Walsall 46 7 68
10 Crawley 46 1 68
11 Tranmere 46 10 67
12 Notts Co 46 12 65
13 Crewe 46 -8 64
14 Preston 46 5 59
15 Coventry 46 7 55
16 Shrewsbury 46 -6 55
17 Carlisle 46 -21 55
18 Stevenage 46 -17 54
19 Oldham 46 -13 51
20 Colchester 46 -21 51
21 Scunthorpe 46 -24 48
22 Bury 46 -28 41
23 Hartlepool 46 -28 41
24 Portsmouth 46 -18 32

Updated Sat, 27 Apr 2013

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