Stefanovic winning fitness battle

Skipper Dejan Stefanovic is winning his fight for fitness to lead Portsmouth into the FA Cup fourth-round tie with Liverpool on Sunday despite being stretchered off in last week’s 5-0 defeat at Birmingham with a suspected fractured cheekbone.

A scan has revealed no break, just bad bruising, and the centre-half’s damaged ankle is a bigger concern but Noe Pamarot is out with a hamstring injury and Andy Griffin sidelined by a one-match ban.