Now the flourishing youngster is persuading the Blues’ head coach not to bother recruiting an experienced right-back alternative in the January transfer window. With Joe Rafferty expected to be out for up to three months following an operation to reattach his tendon to a bone, Swanson has been handed a prized opportunity. Certainly Cowley didn’t anticipate the 22-year-old immediately gaining regular first-team football at Pompey following a summer switch from Arsenal. Yet, in the long-term absence of Rafferty, rookie Swanson has shone in seven successive starts. Cowley identified last week’s Derby encounter as Swanson’s latest challenge impressively negotiated – and the youngster continues to provide a compelling argument to stick with him. Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Zak is a young player who has a lot of natural talent, but before he came here hadn’t much game experience. ‘This wasn’t our plan for Zak. Probably our plan was to bring him in and then maybe look to loan him out to get game experience, because we knew when he signed that was where he’s short. ‘I was really pleased with how he came through against Derby. That was a high-level game, even though it’s in the same division, definitely a crank up in terms of intensity and quality of the opponent. ‘He came through that challenge and will learn from it, now it's about building and continuing trying to improve, getting better. ‘The nature of Joe Rafferty’s operation is the tendon has come away from the bone, so the surgeon’s had to pin it back to the bone. I would imagine he’s out for 12 weeks from here. ‘Everybody has to fight for their place, nobody gets a God-given right, there are always other solutions in terms of formations. ‘Zak has to keep trying to perform at his best and, at the moment, he has the shirt and needs to keep it.’ With Rafferty sidelined until potentially March, the other alternative is Kieron Freeman. However, Freeman’s two starts this season have both arrived in the Papa John’s Trophy and he remains comfortably behind Swanson. For Cowley, the decision must be whether he adds another right-back in January – or retains the blossoming Swanson. He added: ‘We learn about the team all the time and, since the summer window shut, have worked towards the next window like we always do. ‘We’ll do that diligently and do that privately because we know this is the best way of working.’
