Danny Cowley turning to youth for Shrewsbury trip to resolve Portsmouth squad shortage

Michael Jacobs is the latest crocked player to add to the Blues head coach’s ongoing injury woes.

Consequently, Cowley admits he will be forced to name three youngsters on his bench for tomorrow night’s visit to Montgomery Waters Meadow (7.45pm).

That would leave around 14 senior players available for selection as the Blues pursue a third successive victory.

Jacobs joins Kieron Freeman, Shaun Williams, Jayden Reid and Liam Vincent on the sidelines, while Joe Morrell is suspended.

In addition, Mahlon Romeo has struggled with an ankle problem of late, while Sean Raggett and Reeco Hackett were back in training on Saturday following injury concerns.

Cowley told The News: ‘Without wanting to give too much away, we have enough senior players – just.

‘I think we’ll probably have three young players on the bench. Joe Morrell is suspended and the rest have injuries.

‘We haven’t really got injury problems, we’ve just got a small squad.

‘We want to stay positive, it has been well documented that we’d liked to have got one more in last month, but it wasn’t possible.

‘We are working with what we have – and have been really unfortunate.

‘You come out of the transfer window and lose two players with long-term injuries in Shaun Williams and Kieron Freeman, which hasn’t helped.

‘I don’t think we’ve had an injury crisis – what we’ve had all season is unavailability in the same positions.

‘We had a period where we lost our centre-halves and, this time around, all our problems seem to be in the central-midfield area, whether that be injury or suspension.

‘If you look at how they both happened, in 15 years as a football manager I’ve never had a player with a fractured back (Williams).

‘Then Freeman gets concussed and ruptures his ankle ligaments as he lands. We feel a little hard done-by in that respect, but we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves.

‘We are fighters, rather than victims.’

Harry Jewitt-White has been an unused substitute in Pompey’s last two matches and can again be expected to feature at Shrewsbury.

Another is likely to be Jay Mingi, now over a dislocated shoulder and previously mentioned by Cowley as in contention to make the squad.

Pompey’s boss added: ‘When you are in this moment, it creates opportunities for others.

‘Even though we are a small squad, we’ve got a lot of quality and competition within it.

‘If you look at our selection in the last three-game week, we moved things around, and most of the players contributed, which is really healthy for the squad.

‘We also have some young players. I have seen before that when you have some injuries and unavailability in a small squad, it can create opportunity.

‘And sometimes young players’ careers start in these moments.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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