Academy starlet is Portsmouth hero for second time in 24 hours as Blues claim slender victory over Hawks

The youngster came off the bench at Gosport to net in stoppage-time in Friday night’s 3-1 triumph at Privett Park.

And the striker repeated his trick by netting a 43rd-minute winner to see off the Hawks 1-0 this afternoon.

It was a rare moment of quality in a match which struggled to ignite, meeting Harvey Laidlaw’s excellent left-wing cross with a flying header.

That was enough to settle Pompey’s fourth pre-season fixture of the summer, with 4,250 packed into Westleigh Park to watch.

Pompey had made 11 changes to the side which started at Gosport as Mousinho rotated a squad impacted by injury.

However Kusini Yengi, Colby Bishop, Christian Saydee, Joe Rafferty, Tom Lowery, Conor Shaughnessy and Josh Dockerill were all missing through injury and knocks.

That meant starts for Toby Steward, Zak Swanson, Jack Sparkes, Ryley Towler, Ben Stevenson and Paddy Lane, all of which were not involved at Privett Park.

Destiny Ojo and Harry Jewitt-White, who both scored against Gosport after coming on as substitutes, were also in the starting XI.

As was another substitute Dan Murray, who impressed Mousinho with his cameo off the bench.

The Westleigh Park match struggled to come alive during the majority of the first half, with the Blues unable to break the hosts’ offside trap.

Playing a high line, the Hawks were catching Mousinho’s men out every time, no doubt much to the frustration of the Blues boss.

As a consequence, there was barely a shot from Pompey in a mundane opening 45 minutes.

However, the deadlock was broken on 43 minutes through a rare flash of quality to finally light up the game.

Harvey Laidlaw delivered a wonderful left-footed cross from the left and there was Ojo with a diving header from inside the six-yard box.

It gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at the break and when they reappeared for the second half, Josh Oluwayemi had replaced Toby Steward in goal.

The game continued to struggle and on 63 minutes the visitors made eight changes, with Laidlaw continuing.

On came Jack Fox, Brian Quarm, Jayden Keteku, Sam Folarin, Kevin Bosaka, Harry Clout, Liam Vincent and Mitch Aston.

They replaced Swanson, Sparkes, Towler, Mnoga, Stevenson, Murray, Ojo and Jewitt-White.

The Hawks subsequently had two great opportunities to level – both through triallists.

Firstly there was a free header planted straight at Oluwayemi, then another triallist blazed over at the far post when well-placed.

Substitute Dan Gifford, on trial at the Hawks following his release by Pompey in the summer, thought he had scored a 90th-minute leveller in late drama.

He connected with a cross from the right, which Oluwayemi saved at the close range on the line, with Gifford appealing it had cross the line.

But referee Matt Russell wasn’t interested and shortly afterwards blew the final whistle to signal a 1-0 victory for the Blues.