Aborah's fitness drive for Pompey first-team

But Pompey’s recent recruit concedes he requires ‘maybe three’ games before considering himself match fit.

The former Notts County midfielder made his Blues bow in Monday night’s reserve fixture against Everton under-23s.

Featuring for 78 minutes, it was his first start at any level since November 15.

Having fallen out of favour at Meadow Lane, Aborah arrived at Pompey last month starved of first-team action.

He operated as the holding midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 system in Monday evening’s 2-1 Premier League Cup victory.

For Aborah, it represented vital playing time – although more is needed.

He said: ‘It was hard on Monday because I haven’t played games in a while so my fitness levels are not up to the standard of other players.

‘It has been a long time since I played, but I think I did alright, nothing special though.

‘The balls I got I did okay, but it was just about my fitness levels.

‘You need matches. Playing matches is different to running by yourself or training.

‘It’s a different kind of fitness level required.

‘When I will be match fit depends, it could be one or two games, probably two, maybe three.

‘It also depends what I do in training, if I work hard and do the extra, extra stuff I’ve been doing so far then I can reach that sooner.

‘My training has involved staying behind or on a day off doing some bits for myself, just the usual.

‘I see a lot of footballers doing the same stuff, I think it’s normal.

‘I’m happy to have played my first Pompey game and it was alright.

‘I was a bit tired when they took me off, but felt I could have played 10 minutes more.

‘Mind you, you don’t want to pick up an injury.’

Michael Doyle, Amine Linganzi and Danny Rose are vying for the holding midfield spots as Aborah strives to bolster his match fitness.

However, Linganzi had to come off in the 79th minute against Morecambe on Tuesday night with a groin injury.

He was replaced by Danny Rose, who will most likely step in should Linganzi miss the weekend visit of Crewe.

In the meantime, there remains reserve-team opportunities for Aborah.

A crowd of 378 turned up at Westleigh Park to see the victory over Everton, in which the 29-year-old produced a tidy display.

He added: ‘I think we started well, we were the better side and tried to play some football in the beginning.

‘Then they took over because we started kicking it long.

‘But we came out of the dressing room for the second half brightly and played a good second half.’