John Mousinho admits that his Portsmouth side can’t afford a slow start against Rovers at Fratton Park this weekend.
Pompey find themselves in the relegation zone following Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat at Swansea City. They have now lost three games on the spin.
Mousinho says things could turn “very quickly” if they make another poor start against Valerien Ismael's side.
“I know what we’ll get from the fans, which is exactly what we got at the start of the Bristol City game. We just have to try and feed off some of that energy and replicate it,” he told The Portsmouth News.
“We can't start like we did against Bristol City though, because it's going to very, very quickly turn.
“I guess, anything at this stage of the season in terms of where we are, I think the fans have been more than fair.
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“I think we've had plenty of chances, and it's our chance now to go and give them something back and give them something to actually cheer about.”
The manager added: “I think it's going to be a case of a little bit of nerves, a little bit of tension at Fratton Park, which is fine. That's understandable. But I don't think that's going to be the case when the game kicks off.”
Regan Poole is ruled out due to an ankle issue, while Josh Knight and Zak Swanson are also injury doubts.
“I don’t know about Zak yet but it didn’t look too bad,” said Mousinho. “Josh is 50-50 for this weekend, it’s touch and go, day to day. Regan won’t make the weekend, but we haven’t got a timescale on that yet.
“Regan’s injury is a blow. It’s the same as any player really, but Regan had played every minute of every game before the Charlton game so it will be tough to lose him for any period of time.”
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