Portsmouth target friendly fixture as they ramp up first-team plan for ex-West Ham, Wigan and Lincoln man

Pompey are eyeing behind-closed-doors opposition in a bid to ensure Anthony Scully is first-team ready.

The former West Ham winger has missed four months of the season after undergoing knee surgery following a meniscus tear on his Blues debut.

Since returning to action last month, Scully has totalled nine minutes in League One, while featured as a half-time substitute against AFC Wimbledon in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

However, John Mousinho acknowledges the 24-year-old needs more match minutes if he is to challenge for a starting spot.

And having been eliminated from the Bristol Street Motors Trophy and Hampshire Senior Cup, the Blues are keen to arrange a friendly this month.

Mousinho told The News: ‘There’s a couple of ways we can do it. We are probably going to have a behind-closed-doors game at some point in January and also Anthony has to be ready to feature when called upon.

‘I’m sure there are going to be opportunities over the next few games for him to come on and feature, while he has to make sure he keeps his training standards high to give us a headache in terms of selection.

‘When he does come on, if he can get 15-20 minutes and build that up then that’s usually the best way to do it. That turns into 30 minutes, turns into 45 minutes.

‘If Anthony can play 45-50 minutes in a behind-closed-doors game, then he’s probably ready to start a match. It’s never ideal because the only way you can get match fitness is by playing games, but we have to make sure we handle that one as and when it comes.

‘We haven’t arranged a friendly at the moment, our plan was to get Cheltenham out of the way and to then look at it. Which we will now do.

‘We don’t have the Bristol Street Motors Trophy or the Hampshire Senior Cup, so the next best alternative is to arrange a behind-closed-doors friendly.

‘Anthony’s a very, very honest and open player. He sees it how it is, he is very, very keen to return and get back as quickly as possible. He’s hungry to play football games and I think understands his position in the squad at the moment.

‘There is no doubt in my mind that he will keep pushing for a starting berth. He’s been really, really sharp in training and needs to show that when he gets a chance in a game.’

Scully was introduced for Gavin Whyte in the 84th minute of Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Cheltenham.

And there was late controversy when he was booked after allegedly diving after going down in the box, with Mousinho adamant it was a penalty.

Still, the Blues head coach is finding it difficult giving minutes to players returning from injury.

He added: ‘We are in that situation where we’re not in it to try to help players out - we are in it to try to win games of football. The pressure is there for players to come in and perform, which is a nice pressure to have.

‘We’d much rather be here than somewhere else where we can ease a player back or make a team selection decision based on somebody coming back from fitness.

‘We just haven’t got that luxury at the moment and that’s quite nice. Players know that, they know they have to fight really hard to get back into the team.’