Portsmouth's reassuring message as on-loan Brentford midfielder joins injury list at Fratton Park

John Mousinho was played down concerns Myles Peart-Harris has been added to the Blues' long-term injury list.

The on-loan attacking midfielder was a noticable absentee from Saturday's 4-1 win over Reading, after scoring his first goal for the club in Tuesday night's win against Cambridge United.

His no-show heightened fears that he's the latest player to be struck down by injury, with those currently on the Pompey treatment table totalling 10 before today's League One game against the Royals.

Those concerns were well-founded, with Mousinho stating post-match that the 21-year-old sat out the meeting with the Royals with a knee issue. However, the head coach described the midfielder's injury as 'minor' and was confident Peart-Harris would make a swift return to action.

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, Mousinho said: 'So Myles just picked up a really minor knock in the game on Tuesday night. He came out and tried to train yesterday (Friday) but he just felt his knee slightly.

'It should be nothing beyond next week, hopefully. We'll have a bit more of an update on Monday morning but nothing too concerning as I know we've had injury after injury here with the long-term ones. But we don't think it's going to be anything like that.'

Pompey have Regan Poole, Alex Robertson, Joe Morrell, Terry Devlin and Tom McIntyre already ruled out for the rest of the season, so news that Peart-Harris' injury is nothing too concerning will provide relief for Pompey, who retained their six-point advantage at the top of the table with their convincing win against the Royals.

The Blues will also be glad that a first-half knock picked up by Abu Kamara - who recorded three assists in the latest victory - does not look serious.

The head coach added: 'Abs took a significant knock in the first half on his ankle, but we straped it up and he got on with it. He's got a cut there but you will probably see it didn't really afect him in the second half.'

Pompey are next in action on Saturday, when they travel to Charlton.