Pompey manager Alan Ball is poised to sign a new four-year contract that will keep him at Fratton Park until 2003.

Ball announced after yester-day's goalless draw with Huddersfield Town that club chairman Milan Mandaric had offered him a four-year extension on his existing contract, to take immediate effect.

"I am thrilled to bits," said Ball. "I just can't wait to sit down and sign it - and get on with the job the chairman wants me and my staff to do.

"We said at the start of the season we needed to put some stability back in the club and belief back among our supporters.

"The chairman's done that. He's very ambitious and has fabulous plans for the new stadium," he enthused.

Pompey surrendered their 100 per cent home record against fellow big spenders Huddersfield, but responded well after Saturday's 6-0 drubbing at Barnsley.

Ball confessed that, before the game he was worried about "the team having the confidence knocked out of them at Barnsley".

"But our overall graft, work rate and commitment that they put in was spot on. If they hadn't got anything out of the game, it would have been a tragedy."

Pompey will be without three key defenders for their clash with top-of-the-table Ipswich Town at Fratton Park on September 11.

Andy Awford and Fitzroy Simpson, both sent off at Barnsley, and Matthew Robinson, red carded in the Worthington Cup tie at Torquay, will all miss the game.

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