‘I absolutely love him, but he wasn't going to play': Portsmouth boss on why he was initially against popular player's comeback at Hereford

No wonder Danny Cowley was delighted upon the return of Tom Lowery at Hereford, even though he was loath to actually play him.

A hamstring problem had sidelined the former Crewe man for 49 days, a frustrating period which saw the Blues lose that winning feeling following a scintillating start.

However, Lowery announced his comeback in Friday night’s FA Cup encounter at Hereford, replacing Jay Mingi in the 61st minute.

The scoreline was 1-1 at the time – with the Blues subsequently running out 3-1 winners at Edgar Street.

And for Cowley, Lowery’s influence was pivotal.

He told The News: ‘Tom came on the pitch and we were a significantly better team, which says everything about Tom and how important he is to us.

‘Joe Morrell has a sickness bug, it has been a case of one fire starting, so we put that out and then there’s another one. It’s one after the other.

‘We weren't going to play Tom against Hereford. We thought he was safe enough to, but, in an ideal world, err on the side of caution and give him a little more time.

‘It just wasn’t possible, though, so needs must, and he will be better for that 29 minutes.

‘It’s the way he makes angles, he always wants the ball, his receiving skills are excellent, he always passes forward, he runs forward, he gives us this connection that we don’t have without him.

‘Tom's ever so brave and courageous on the ball, always wants it, faces forwards and is able to find the forward pass - then has the energy and enthusiasm to run off the back of that pass.

‘I love him, I absolutely love him, we’ve really missed him.’

While Lowery has now returned, Cowley offered further optimism by revealing Marlon Pack is also close.

And he anticipates the fellow midfielder could be back for next weekend’s visit to Morecambe (November 12).

He added: ‘Hopefully we will have Marlon Pack by the next league game as well, which would be really good.’