Portsmouth make 10 changes yet still field strong side in Aston Villa clash at Fratton Park
Danny Cowley has made 10 changes for Pompey’s encounter with Aston Villa under-21s.
The teams this evening meet at Fratton Park, with the Blues keen to claim their first win of the group stage following an opening 2-2 draw with Crawley.
The head coach has also used the fixture to rotate his side, handing match minutes to fringe players and those to have recently returned following injury.
As a result, Reeco Hackett, Denve Hume, Zak Swanson, Jay Mingi and Ryan Tunnicliffe all join Sean Raggett – the sole survivor from the 3-2 loss at Ipswich – in the starting XI.
Elsewhere, the out-of-favour Kieron Freeman is given his third outing since dislocating his ankle in February, while Michael Jacobs features following his recent return to availability.
And there’s a first start in five matches for Joe Pigott, who was ineligible to play against parent club Ipswich last Saturday.
Pompey’s bench includes Academy youngsters Adam Payce, Malachi Osei-Owusu, Harvey Laidlaw, Brian Quarm and Dan Murray.
Pompey: Oluwayemi, Swanson, Freeman, Raggett, Hume, Hackett, Mingi, Tunnicliffe, Jacobs, Curtis, Pigott.
Subs: Osei-Owusu, Payce, Laidlaw, Quarm, Morrell, Murray, Koroma.