Pompey boss admits injuries could've been avoided

The Blues are set to welcome skipper Brett Pitman back at Oldham this weekend, after his return to training following a hamstring issue.

Pitman and Gareth Evans were joined by Oli Hawkins last week as hamstring absences – and that has been a concern for the Pompey boss.

Jackett said: ‘We’re very aware of injuries and we’re as professional as we possibly can be in our structure and work.

‘We’ve had too many injuries this season. Having said that, you have to work players hard and hard enough to be resillient.

‘The Southend game was a difficult one where we lost two senior players to hamstring injuries. That’s frustrating.

‘Now Oli’s another one on Friday. It’s something that’s avoidable. We have to believe they’re avoidable, take the responsibility ourselves and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

‘We’ll see (if they’ll lighten the workload). You’re running on eggshells, but you have to train, work hard and be durable. While we take responsibility and look at our structure all the time, we all know injuries happen.

‘For us, eradicating the muscle injuries is something we’re professionally looking to do.’

Pompey will assess Pitman’s work this week but the trip to Boundary Park will be too early for Evans.

Jackett added: ‘By the end of the week I would’ve thought Pitman would’ve done enough to be considered.

‘Hopefully he’ll be okay, but it will be a little bit too early for Gareth Evans.

‘Brett’s done some training yesterday, modified, and he felt fine. We’ll see how our week goes now.’