'I was once called injury prone!': Defender on brink of creating impressive Portsmouth appearance record

Blues braveheart Sean Raggett is revelling standing on the brink of a notable Pompey landmark.

And the central-defender is delighted to have buried the ‘injury prone’ tag which dogged his early Fratton Park days.

Should the 30-year-old retain his place against Cambridge United this evening (7.45pm), he will become Pompey’s leading appearance maker of the 21st Century.

Outing number 227 will ensure he overtakes Ronan Curtis (226) to top the list of players who have featured for the Blues over the last 24 years.

The June 2019 signing from Norwich has already surpassed Linvoy Primus (219), Gareth Evans (218), Christian Burgess (210) and Matt Taylor (203).

Currently in his fifth Fratton Park season, Raggett now has one more target in his sights.

The centre-half told The News: ‘That’s a mad stat. When I signed there were quite a few players who had racked up a lot of appearances.

‘Now there’s no-one from my first two seasons around. In my third season, Connor (Ogilvie) and Joe (Morrell) signed.

‘I joined Pompey off the back of a season when I broke my ankle twice. There’s not really a lot you can do about that - yet before then I’d never had an injury.

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‘When I came, I know some people were saying I was injury prone, which wasn’t really the case. I broke my ankle and probably came back too soon and broke it again, otherwise I haven’t been injured in my career.

‘It’s something they wrongly assumed because I’d spent the majority of a season injured, but it was a freak injury.

‘In fairness, I don’t think I was actually fit enough when I joined. Off the back of my second ankle break, I went to Abu Dhabi for some training, but couldn't really run.

‘The first time I ran properly was to do my medical at Pompey, after I had been cleared to. I subsequently had the pre-season, but just didn’t feel fit enough.

‘Usually I’m probably one of the fitter players, but, in that first summer, I wasn’t. My injury was fine, but I was definitely a bit unfit and not match-ready.

‘Still, I’ve gone on to play a lot of games for this club. With another 14 matches left, that could take me to 241. That’s not bad.’

In a season when the Blues have suffered 10 long-term injuries, of which four are ruled out for the season, Raggett stands firm.

His sole absence was September’s 3-2 win at Barnsley, when sidelined by an ankle problem, while has so far totalled 31 appearances this term.

He added: ‘That injury was my own fault, we were shooting before Derby and I kicked the ball wrongly on my foot and bent it back. It was on the ankle which I broke, it gets a bit stiff sometimes.

‘My foot was killing and I couldn't come on against Derby and stayed on the bench. Then I missed Barnsley the following game.

‘That’s my only injury this season, although I barely played for the first three months anyway, which might have actually done me a bit of good.

‘For four straight seasons, I pretty much played every game, that’s how I looked at it. I want to be playing, but in the long-run that might have done me a bit of good.’