Danny Cowley's agonising Portsmouth selection dilemma which refuses to be put off

Following the weekend’s mark of respect after the passing of the Queen, football is set to resume on Tuesday night, with the Blues scheduled to travel to struggling Burton.

Pompey’s head coach will once again be asked to decide on the identity of his left-back, arguably his biggest team headache at present.

A pleasant conundrum, mind, such is the calibre of player involved in the battle between Clark Robertson and the returning Connor Ogilvie.

Ogilvie missed his first league game of the season against Peterborough in order to attend the birth of his son.

Robertson surprisingly deputised at left-back, weighing in with an excellent assist for Dane Scarlett’s first goal in the 2-1 triumph.

Now Cowley must choose whether to change a winning side against rock-bottom Burton and restore Ogilvie in place of his captain.

He told The News: ‘Connor and his partner Elle had a baby boy, so we are absolutely delighted for them.

‘He trained all (last) week and we are hopeful he can play.

‘This is what you want as manager, you want competition for places. It's a particularly strong area for us, we have four players who can play at centre-half – Sean Raggett, Michael Morrison, Connor Ogilvie and Clark Robertson.

‘We saw Clark probably play out of position against Peterborough, but did it really, really well and this gives us another option, which is always good from our perspective.

‘Connor’s a player who is very, very precious to us, very important. Sometimes he goes under the radar because he is so consistent.

‘These are always the dilemmas and decisions you have to make, there are lots of opportunities, picking the right team for the right game.’

Ogilvie has also been a surprise scoring presence for Pompey so far this season, with three goals in seven outings.

Although Robertson did find the net at Crawley in the Papa John’s Trophy two matches ago.

Cowley added: ‘Connor has been incredibly consistent. He’s a great character, has a brilliant work ethic, is really trustworthy, really reliable and does both sides of the game really well.

‘It’s defence first, one-v-one defending, his defending of the back post, his positional play is always very, very good.

‘Offensively he’s a good footballer too, he has lovely receiving passing skills, is good on the overlap, has good quality with his crossing.

‘When you think about set-piece moments as well, at both ends of the pitch he can have a real influence.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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