The untapped quartet central to Portsmouth's promotion hopes

But the early noise and anticipation over Pompey's Championship loan arrivals has ebbed in the wake of largely inauspicious starts

A, perhaps, slightly generous assessment would be to call it a mixed bag for David Wheeler, Joe Mason, Andre Green and Ben Thompson to date.

Thompson has been the most involved of the additions, since the Millwall man delivered one of the most impressive debuts of recent years against Oxford in August.

No doubt that imperious display was an unfair yardstick to judge the 23-year-old's ensuing nine appearances by, but Thompson, no doubt, would've hoped for more consistency from the games which followed himself.

Five of those outings have since come off the bench as Ben Close has nipped in front of a player who looked a short price to nail down a starting role after his arrival.

But Thompson's involvement comfortably supersedes the combined contribution of the trio of other temporary recruits to date

They've mustered just 167 minutes of league action between them since arriving at PO4.

Two of them are currently in the treatment room, with Wheeler's ankle injury arriving at a time when the door was opening for the QPR man following Ronan Curtis' latest Ireland involvement.

Green's absence is a cyst of contention, though, with Jackett and his staff unaware of the problem when he agreed his season-long stay from Aston Villa.

The wails of angst from Villa supporters at Green being allowed to depart was music to the ears of Pompey fans, but they've so far been restricted to a couple of unspectacular sighters of the 20-year-old.

They've mustered just 167 minutes of league action between them since arriving at PO4.

Two of them are currently in the treatment room, with Wheeler's ankle injury arriving at a time when the door was opening for the QPR man following Ronan Curtis' latest Ireland involvement.