Pompey will aim to avoid looking like April fools as they welcome in a new month by taking on Hartlepool.

After a proftiable March which brought four wins from six they know another month like that will leave them on the brink of promotion. But every game that follows a win seems to be a potential banana skin for the Blues and they will be able to take nothing for granted in the north-east.

They begin the weekend six points clear of fourth-placed Stevenage - in other words two wins ahead of their nearest rivals with seven matches to play.

Boss Paul Cook is weighing up how to cover the absence through a groin injury of Eoin Doyle up front and told The News: 'There isn’t a like-for-like replacement at our club for Eoin. Within it, all our forward lads would have an argument to play.

‘Kabamba would have a case, Noel Hunt does, too, and we’ve won a lot of games with Conor Chaplin in the side. One of the other options we have is playing Kal Naismith as a number nine. We’d have no problem doing that. With his attributes he could do it comfortably. He could do that quite naturally.

‘Curtis Main is now back training. We have options and we’re fine with it. We’re okay and not in a position where we’re concerned. We’re focused on what we do, and, as a group.'

There are unlikely to be many other changes, though Christian Burgess is set to return in place of Tom Davies after missing the win over Newport through a suspension.

Defender Matt Clarke says the players are keeping their feet on the ground, telling the club website: 'We’re in a good place at the moment and if we continue to do what we have been doing, then we’ll be fine. It feels like seven cup finals to come now and hopefully at the end of that we’ll achieve what we’ve all been looking for.

'Promotion would be massive for me at this stage of my career — especially after what happened last season. To come back from that disappointment and go up straight away would just be massive for all of us. But we’re not really going to talk about that too much until you can look at the table and say we’re definitely promoted.'

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