Callum Lang reveals story of cloak and dagger Portsmouth injury return as attacker provides Championship survival boost

The Scouser returned to the first-team fray after more than two months out, as John Mousinho’s men secured their place in the second tier against Watford.

Lang’s presence on the team-sheet as a substitute, along with Conor Shaughnessy, provided the Blues with a big shot in the arm ahead of kick-off.

The attacker was introduced with three minutes remaining and helped Pompey over the line through 10 long minutes of stoppage time.

Lang revealed he’d trained for the past week without a problem, as his side kept his potential availability under the radar.

The 26-year-old explained the plan was for a return on the final day against Hull, but after rehabbing diligently the opportunity to return quicker emerged.

Lang said: ‘I had a feeling I was going to be in the squad, because I trained all week. It’s just a great feeling to be out there again.

‘I wasn’t sure I was coming on because the plan was for a different substitution, but then Murph (Josh Murphy) went down.

‘I’ve been training a week and you can get by on that and your first game on adrenalin.

‘The plan over the past few weeks was more for Hull, to be honest.

‘But I’ve been back in training and I’m a week or two ahead of where I thought I’d be.

‘I’ve just been working hard to get back, living right and eating right. I did everything I can to get fit and stay fit, so I always thought I’d be able to get back a bit quicker than we first thought.

‘We were aiming for Hull, but I had a good week’s training and I feel strong.’

There was whispers of Lang being available to start against Watford heading into the game, but the former Wigan man explained that was never on the cards.

The 10-goal attacker is hopeful of building on his outing against Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City in the final two games, however.

Lang added: ‘I don’t think there was ever a chance of starting, but when I heard there was a sub at half-time my head popped up!

‘Maybe 45 minutes would have been too much, but I was just happy to get on the pitch.

‘I’m happy to be back out there and just pleased I was able to play a part in the win. Hopefully I can pick up some more minutes now moving forward - I feel like I can get some minutes into my legs.’