Gary Johnson insists his in-form Bristol City team will be doing everything in their power to topple FA Cup holders Portsmouth this weekend.

Although reaching the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs remains the manager's overriding priority, he refutes claims he might be tempted to treat tomorrow's third-round tie at Fratton Park anything other than seriously.

"I've never been accused of going into a game not trying to win it and I don't intend to start now," rapped Johnson, who is expected to field his strongest available side against the Barclays Premier League strugglers.

"Of course reaching the play-offs is our big goal for the season and we can't afford to lose sight of the bigger picture. But we're going to Portsmouth to try and win a football match.

"More than 3,000 of our supporters are making the journey and that shows how much this game means to us.

"I've been on good runs in the FA Cup before and I know what it can do for a club. It's not a case of us wanting to get knocked out so we can concentrate on the league – we want to be in the draw for the next round.

"We won't be afraid of Portsmouth. In fact, we'll go and give it a right go."

By choosing not to screen tomorrow's tie, TV bosses have effectively dismissed Bristol City's chances of springing a surprise.

But Johnson sees no reason why they can't produce a shock result.

"We're going there in confident mood after winning our last two games and Portsmouth will have to be aware of us," he added.

"They will definitely be looking more closely at us now than they would have done a few weeks ago. Our boys have rediscovered their form at the right time.

"On the day, it's 11 blokes against 11 blokes. They all have ability – the only difference is that Premier League players produce it more consistently. But we know we can match them for parts of the game and, providing we have that little bit of luck that all underdogs need, anything can happen.

"The third round always throws up a few surprises and we have as good a chance of pulling one off as anyone else.

"Our return to form comes at a time when Portsmouth are struggling to get a result and they have a lot of injuries. We'll go there believing we can cause an upset.

"We've started well and scored early goals in our last couple of games and if we can do that on Saturday, it won't just quieten the Portsmouth crowd, it will upset them."