How under-fire ex-Bournemouth man Charlie Daniels is working overtime to banish worrying Portsmouth form

During Pompey’s last two matches, the under-fire left-back has conceded two penalties and also played a leading part in letting in another goal.

The former Bournemouth player has been deputising for hamstring victim Lee Brown, who has an outside chance of returning against Bristol Rovers on Saturday (1pm).

Danny Cowley admits he is keeping his fingers crossed for a Brown return – yet has no qualms with sticking by Daniels.

And Pompey’s head coach admits he has been impressed with the 34-year-old’s professionalism and desire on the training ground to make amends.

Cowley told The News: ‘Charlie is an incredibly experienced player, he’s had a brilliant career.

‘I love the fact he was out there, one of the last at training today, trying to correct issues from the game on Tuesday.

‘The reason he does that is he’s got that humility – and that’s why he’s had the career he’s had.

‘He’s a great example to the young players at this club.

‘He’s got a wealth of experience and if I was a young player I would be sitting next to him and tapping into that.

‘Charlie has actually come from Leyton Orient to Bournemouth and travelled through the leagues to get to the Premier League. Young players would love to get that chance.

‘If you were a young at Portsmouth Football Club, you would be getting into him wouldn’t you. You would be asking why, how, what have I got to do, what did you do.

‘People like him want to improve, they want to get better. They love football, they are competitors and want to try to do more.

‘That’s the culture we must have, there’s no short-cuts to where we are going.

‘Even at his age he wants that – and you have to respect that.’

Daniels has made 15 appearances and scored once since arriving from Shrewsbury in January.

He replaced Cam Pring as Brown’s left-back rival, after the youngster had been recalled by parent club Bristol City.

Cowley added: ‘Fingers crossed with Lee, we’ll wait and see. He’s doing his best, doing everything he can, and trained today.

‘We are going to try to pick the best team to beat Bristol Rovers, with the best players available.

‘If the worst was to happen and Charlie got injured, we would have to find someone else to play left-back, wouldn’t we.

‘We have to be flexible in our thoughts.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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