Defender James Bolton out to put his injury problems behind him and finally show Portsmouth fans what he can do

The defender got his first full Blues appearance under his belt in the 1-0 EFL Trophy victory over Crawley.

Bolton started at right-back as Kenny Jackett opted for a strong starting XI, as his team began the defence of the trophy they memorably won at Wembley in May.

The 25-year-old has been sidelined with an ankle injury after being tackled by his former Shrewsbury team-mate Shaun Whalley at New Meadow.

That was after Bolton came on as sub on the opening day of the campaign following a pre-season also interrupted by injury.

The former Gateshead man spoke of his happiness at being able to put the issue behind him.

Bolton said: ‘It’s not been ideal for me, it’s been very frustrating.

‘I feel like I’ve had to start again.

‘I played 45 minutes at UCD and 90 at Woking in pre-season. That’s been it. I haven’t played any minutes.

‘I had a knock in the UCD and then played at Woking and I thought I’d turned the corner.

‘I was feeling good and then that happened at Shrewsbury.

‘I haven’t been able to shake it off and it’s been very frustrating.

‘It was a whack (on the ankle) and I twisted it as well.

‘But hopefully I can push on now. That’s the attitude I’m taking.’

The challenge for Bolton is to begin building the momentum he’s searching for over the coming weeks.

That means picking up minutes for Jackett’s men to get to the level he believes he’s capable of operating at.

Bolton’s only competitive football for Pompey before the Crawley game was the 37 minutes he got on the first day.

He believes it’s time in games he really needs now moving forward.

Bolton added: ‘I just want some minutes really now.

‘I just need those minutes to get some sharpness back and get those minutes into my legs.

‘It’s different to training to games. It’s a massive difference.

‘So hopefully now I can shake off everything and really push on.’