Fresh Portsmouth injury concern after surprise Derby County absence for January arrival

And the Pompey boss also explained the absence of Brighton loanee Mark O’Mahony, who wasn’t included in the 20-man squad against the Rams.

Despite starting and impressing during Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to play-off hopefuls Coventry City, there was no place in the side for the crucial contest against Derby for Waddingham.

The 20-year-old was handed his full Blues debut following his January arrival from Brisbane Roar for the trip to the CBS Arena and caught the eye as he used his pace and power to cause early issues for the Sky Blues.

It represented the young talent’s second outing in successive games for Pompey after he was brought on in the closing stages of the defeat to Millwall.

However, less than three days after impressing from the start against Coventry, which saw Mousinho insist there could be an extended run in the team for Waddingham, there was surprisingly no place in the squad to face relegation rivals Derby on Saturday.

And Mousinho explained that the striker missed the entertaining draw after reporting a hamstring issue following the midweek loss.

The Blues boss told BBC Radio Solent after the game: ‘He felt his hamstring the other night and that’s probably a consequence of the fact it was his first start in English football. We’ll see how that settles down and probably scan him on Monday.’

Waddingham has registered five appearances since his January switch from Brisbane Roar and netted on his first Pompey outing during the 5-1 defeat to West Brom, just days after his arrival from Australia.

No place for Mark O’Mahony against Derby

Mousinho made five changes from the late loss to Coventry, which included a return to the bench for Kusini Yengi. However, there was no place in the 20-man squad for O’Mahony, who was brought on to replace Waddingham in Wednesday’s game against the Sky Blues.

The Brighton loanee had a good opportunity in the box at the CBS Arena but struggled to make an impact as Frank Lampard’s men applied the pressure late on in the contest.

And the head coach provided a four-word response as to why O’Mahony wasn’t selected to face Derby on Saturday. The head coach said: ‘That was just selection’

Among the five changes to the side for the huge relegation contest against Derby, Matt Ritchie, Zak Swanson, Isaac Hayden and Christian Saydee all returned to the starting XI, while man-of-the-moment Rob Atkinson completed his comeback from a calf injury.

Mousinho insisted it was to freshen things up after successive away trips to Millwall and Coventry.

‘It doesn’t feel like we’re in poor form but we’ve lost four of the last five and those are the facts that are staring at us. We’d played Coventry away on Wednesday night, a massive emotional, hard-working tie.

‘We’d played Millwall at the weekend again so we had those two away games and a combination of those two things so we needed to freshen things up. And to be fair, give lads who have been chomping at the bit the opportunity to play.’

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