Pompey await news on injured trio

Gareth Evans and Brett Pitman were forced off in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Southend with suspected hamstring issues.

The Blues were already without Matty Kennedy for the Roots Hall clash, having sustained an ankle injury in training during the build up.

All three are doubts for Tuesday night’s trip to managerless Fleetwood in a rearranged fixture.

Kenny Jackett is definitely without Nathan Thompson, who starts a three-match ban following his sending off at Southend.

Now he must wait to discover if his newly-injured trio will be joining Thompson on the sidelines.

He said: ‘Evans and Pitman obviously had to be substituted with injuries, whether that’s neural and they can get over that by Tuesday, we will have to see.

‘For Gareth, I’m not yet sure whether it’s a recurrence of his previous hamstring.

‘By tomorrow I think the players will know whether they will be out for a period of time or whether they can get over it pretty quickly.

‘It’s hard for me to assess that shortly after the game, but they came off with injury problems.

‘Also Matty Kennedy picked up an ankle injury in training, so we will have to see on him too.’

Evans netted from close range in the 36th minute against Southend, but injured his hamstring in the process.

It was only his fifth match back since recovering from the same problem at the end of January.

On that occasion, he missed four matches when the problem struck on the stroke of half-time against Northampton.

Saturday marked his maiden league goal of the campaign, with Connor Ronan appearing off the bench as his replacement.

Pitman was forced off on 69 minutes, with Oli Hawkins taking his spot.

Pompey’s skipper had collapsed to the floor with what appeared to be a hamstring problem.

Meanwhile, Thompson’s sending off leaves the Blues short in central midfield.

Jackett added: ‘With Nathan, my first impression was it was slightly high, I don’t think it was particularly malicious, but it was slightly high.

‘The most important thing is that – whoever is playing on Tuesday night at Fleetwood – we have to do better. We know where we need to improve, we have to set targets to do that.

‘We will have to reshuffle, but that’s what squads are for, it’s an opportunity for other players.’