Griffin determined to test Liverpool

Andy Griffin has warned Liverpool that Portsmouth will not roll over and provide them with an easy panacea for their Mersey derby blues tonight.

Managerless Pompey have confounded the critics since Harry Redknapp’s departure three weeks ago by grabbing Barclays Premiership points in wins over Bolton and West Brom and a 1-1 draw at Newcastle on Saturday.

Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric will speak to former Southampton boss Gordon Strachan over the club’s vacant managerial position, and that will further fuel the controversy sparked last week when Redknapp was appointed manager at fierce rivals Southampton.

Redknapp’s last three games in charge of Portsmouth all ended in defeat but Velimir Zajec, the newly-appointed executive director currently in charge of first-team affairs, has lost only to Watford in the Carling Cup.

Defender Griffin, a free signing from Newcastle at the start of the season, said: “It is certainly not all doom and gloom about the place at the prospect of going to Liverpool. We are looking forward to it.

“So-called experts wrote off our chances at Bolton and Newcastle but we proved them wrong.”