Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon says his side must go and “relish” the challenge that Portsmouth will bring at Fratton Park on Saturday afternoon.
Rovers head to the South Coast for their first away fixture back in Sky Bet League One, where Kenny Jackett’s Pompey await.
And while Scotsman Mellon knows his men are in for a challenge, he feels Rovers can cause Portsmouth problems this weekend.
TRFC will be backed by a large number of the SWA who will be making the journey down to Hampshire, and Mellon wants his squad to relish playing in front of a big crowd at Fratton Park.
He said: “It’s a huge challenge for us and we hope we’re a huge challenge for them as well, they’ve lost their first game as well.
“You’ve got to go and relish going to these kinds of places and these kinds of atmospheres and it is a great test of you as a person to go into that environment and see where you’re up to at what you’re about.
“We want to thrive in these kinds of environments, be calm and do our jobs, so we are working on that mentality to make sure we go down there and we are a competitive Tranmere team.
“There are a lot of teams still finding their feet and finding that they are, and Portsmouth are one of the biggest supported clubs, they are a big football club at any level, and we want to be competitive against everybody.
“There will be different styles of teams, different environments, different times of the season, we have to find that consistency of competitiveness, we have to be competitive against every team we play, and we are leaning how to do that.”
Micky’s pre-match thoughts will be available on iFollow. CLICK HERE to sign up and watch!