Pompey were battered by the Potters on Wednesday night, as Tom Cannon struck four goals for the home side.

U’s head coach Buckingham watched the game in person at the bet365 Stadium, and was clear that the result will have no bearing on how his side will set up and take to the game tactically this weekend.

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He said: “It doesn’t change our approach to it. We drove up to watch it, and I think they were at our game on Tuesday to watch us in person.

“You can see a little bit more than what the TV will give you, but it doesn’t change our approach.

“We know they’re a good team, and we can talk about last year, but last year is irrelevant. It’s what we’ve done this year.

“They have several threats and had a start to the league campaign in which they’ve been very competitive in their games, and we’ve seen that.

“We’ll go down there, prepare, and be respectful to what we think we may face, but we’ll continue trying to build on what we’ve done.

“The last two games, certainly against Burnley, and then the second half against Luton, if we can start where we left off, that’s what we’ll be trying to do.”

United have made a hugely encouraging start to the Sky Bet Championship season, with three wins and two draws from their opening eight matches.

The draws came in their last two games, with a goalless affair at home to Burnley followed by the midweek 2-2 draw at Luton Town.

The Clarets and the Hatters were both playing Premier League football a matter of months ago, demonstrating the competitiveness that the U’s have shown since promotion from League One during the previous campaign.

Buckingham said: “The beauty of this league is that the teams you expect to win, with the exception of maybe a couple, the results are all over the place at the moment.

“For us, that’s exciting because we are one of those teams that I’d like to think are surprising people externally, but not so much internally.

“The approach to the playing group will be no different, whether it’s Portsmouth or it’s Burnley.

“We know that at this level, how important those small moments can be, and how important each point to us is.

“We need to do everything we can to try and put us in that space to start the game well, and make sure we finish it as strongly as possible.”