‘I know I can...’: The massive statement to lift Portsmouth hopes amid defensive injury woe

And the centre-back promised he’s now primed to solve the Blues’ central defensive woes, as he relived the most recent lows of his fitness fight.

Poole has revealed how his latest two-and-a-half month injury setback tested his resolve, coming off the back of his 10 month out after knee cruciate ligament surgery.

The 26-year-old returned impressively against QPR on Saturday, however, with his comeback coinciding with John Mousinho’s side picking up a swathe of injuries.

The strongest concerns are in the middle of defence with Rob Atkinson (calf) and Hayden Matthews (ankle) the new issues, and Mousinho admitting his concern over the outlook for the pair. With Conor Shaughnessy suffering a hamstring setback and Ibane Bowat out for the season, it again stretches Pompey’s orthodox options in that department to the limit.

But Poole believes the player who made such an impact in the opening months of last season is now ready to reappear, at a crucial moment in Pompey’s campaign.

Poole said: ‘It’s been tough, everyone knows it’s been tough for me - it was such a long time out for me last season.

‘Then I came back and I knew I’d feel things when I came back, but to be out for another fair amount of time was tough.

‘But hopefully that’s all behind me now and I can pick up from where I left off, because I was just starting to find my feet again.

‘I felt I was hitting a bit of form and starting to feel like Regan Poole again. It’s nice to be back out there and hopefully I can now contribute to the end of the season.

‘I am ready, I really feel I am. I probably wasn’t meant to be coming on (against QPR) but it is what it is. It’s one of those things and you get on with it, but I’m ready to be called upon.

‘Hopefully these final games can be really important for me.

‘My form at the start of last season was really high - and I know I can get back to that level.

‘That was why it was so frustrating coming back from my knee, it was like I was a different player for the first couple of games. As I was just coming back into that form I started feeling my hamstring, so I know I can get back to being that player. Hopefully I can show that.’

Poole’s latest injury setback focussed on his hamstring, which was an issue which surfaced in relation to the ACL surgery he underwent last year.

A tissue graft from that area is used to replace the torn ligament in his knee, with incidents of hamstring issues further down the line fairly common in sportsmen and women. That was what Poole experienced last year, as his 13-game return was curtailed against Norwich in December.

He added: ‘The graft was taken from the right hamstring into my left knee and the problem has been with my right hamstring, where it was taken.

‘It’s very common in ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgery. Then I started rehabbing my hamstring and started feeling my calf, so it’s been like a domino effect.

‘It’s been tough and I knew there’d be issues, but I never thought I’d be out for another two-and-a-half months. As I say, it came out a bad time because I thought I was just hitting a bit of form and feeling like myself again.

‘Hopefully it’s behind me and I can help this team again.’

Poole is keeping his fingers crossed the news isn’t too bad when it comes to Matthews and Atkinson, with a similar scenario last September seeing the Welshman play a lot of football after his ACL return.

That heavy schedule saw Poole named man-of-the-match on his comeback game against Burnley, before his form dropped in a testing period. The former Lincoln man feels he’s in a better place now, as he senses there could be games for him over Pompey’s run-in.

‘See us over the line’

Poole said: ‘I hope so (he’s going to be important), I hope I am anyway! When I came back from my injury we were quite low on numbers, so I had to grind out the games quite early on.

‘It seems whenever I come back everyone gets injured. Hopefully the lads who are injured aren’t too bad and we’ve got some bodies in there.

‘Skip (Pack) did a really good job of filling in there, but it’s probably not where he wants to be long term. He did a brilliant job, but hopefully those guys can stay fit and help see us over the line.’

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