There will be a rivalry made in Essex on the sidelines at Fratton Park this Saturday.

Gillingham manager Neil Harris comes up against his friends Danny Cowley and brother Nicky, the management team in charge of weekend hosts Portsmouth.

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Prior to making the leap into full-time football management, the Cowley brothers were PE teachers at the The FitzWimarc School in Rayleigh, where among the pupils were Harris’ children.

The football coaches have been friends for many years and come face to face when the Gills go looking for a win at Portsmouth this Saturday, one which would give them a massive chance of staying in League 1 this term.

“They taught my children,” said Harris, when talking of his weekend rivals. “I know them very well. They were exceptional PE teachers, with a winning mentality, right up my street!

“(They are) great characters, infectious, driven, I can’t praise Danny (Portsmouth manager) and Nicky (his assistant) highly enough as men, as friends and as football people. They built it up from Concord Rangers, to go through to Braintree, Lincoln, Huddersfield and now Portsmouth, fair play to them.

“Danny I speak to a lot, they are really good men.”

Things haven’t gone quite to plan for Portsmouth this season under the Cowley brothers. Their promotion hopes are officially over after a 1-1 draw at Gills’ relegation rivals Morecambe on Monday. With three games left, Pompey are 10 points adrift of the play-off places.

Harris doesn’t expect the opponents to be taking it easy this weekend, however.

“A side under the Cowleys are driven 24/7,” Harris said. “That is their nature, they are infectious characters that drive you on.

“We are going against a Portsmouth side who have a lot to play for.

“(Relegation threatened) Fleetwood came (to Priestfield on Monday) with a nervousness, like ourselves, they were playing not to get beat I thought.

“Portsmouth will try and win the game against us, they don’t have to, but (will be playing) infront of 15,000 people who in their eyes will be expected to win the game.”

Harris admitted his own side failed to handle the pressure early on against Fleetwood, in a game that ended goalless, infront of a season best attendance at Priestfield. He’ll hope lessons have been learned and they can attack Saturday’s game from the off.

He said: “We didn’t deal with it the first half an hour. We need to start from the first whistle this weekend.

“(Fratton Park) is a brilliant place to play, a great place to manage but also a fanbase that expect and demand. It’s six years in League 1 next year for them, probably not acceptable for Portsmouth Football Club. There is expectation on them as well.

“(Are they) expected to beat Gillingham? Of course they are, but what a great atmosphere for us to go and express ourselves in, in our own way on Saturday.”

Danny Cowley spoke highly of his counterpart on Thursday, saying: "Neil Harris has done an amazing job. The club was cast adrift in the division when he first arrived but within 24 hours he had taken three points against Crewe and they have gone from strength to strength.

"The fact that they have with two games to go got themselves out of the relegation zone is testament to the skill and his hard work."