Bird poised for medical go-ahead

Ryan Bird receives treatment from Steve Allen at being knocked out Picture; Joe Pepler

But the influential Patrick Agyemang looks like missing out.

Bird was knocked out during the second half of Saturday’s abject 4-0 defeat at AFC Wimbledon.

He had earlier replaced Agyemang, who hobbled off with a recurrence of a thigh problem.

Bird suffered the injury while defending a corner, leaving Tom Craddock to take his place up front.

The three-goal striker has not trained since, as doctors await for symptoms of his concussion to subside.

But Whittingham is hoping Bird can take part in today’s session as he looks to utilise him at Fratton Park against the Iron.

He said: ‘We think Ryan will be okay. Daily, we are looking at him and he is improving.

‘With everything that has gone on recently about concussion in sport, we have to be very careful with this.

‘It’s the symptoms we are looking at and how he felt directly after it happened – and they appear to have eased off.

‘He still didn’t train yesterday and we will have to leave it to the last minute before deciding.

‘But we know he’s a naturally fit lad anyway.’

Agyemang is still nursing an injury to his left thigh and it is not anticipated he will feature tomorrow.

That will leave either Tom Craddock or Bird to partner David Connolly in attack.

There is also a concern over Thery Racon, who returned from a hip flexor problem as a second-half substitute at Wimbledon – only to hurt his groin,

Romain Padovani also missed that match, with his issue being a virus.

He now has a calf problem but should be available for the clash with managerless Scunthorpe.

Ricky Holmes has trained all week following the foot injury which kept him out of the Dons fixture.

The winger picked up the problem at Newport in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and left the ground on crutches, missing the following match as a consequence.

Whittingham added: ‘Pat is struggling, Thery has a groin problem and Romain has a calf problem.

‘One or two injuries have been picked up that we are monitoring. We are hoping, out of those four (including Bird), two will be available for selection.

‘In addition, Ricky is fine, he has been training all week.

‘After the game at Newport, he came out with a pot on his foot because we know he has got this injury problem there.’