'It was nothing more sinister than that': Portsmouth boss delivers Joe Pigott reassurance after Ipswich loanee's worrying first-half exit against Aston Villa

The striker had been handed his first start in five matches, yet came off in the first half of Tuesday night’s Papa John’s Trophy fixture.

His replacement, Josh Koroma, instead partnered Reeco Hackett in attack and bagged two goals in the 5-0 demolition job.

However, Cowley has explained the necessity to substitute Pigott was through illness rather than injury.

And the Blues’ head coach is optimistic the Ipswich loanee will be available for Saturday’s visit of Fleetwood.

He told The News: ‘We’ve had this chest infection in the group.

‘We had it leading into Saturday's game, Colby (Bishop) was struggling, Joe Morrell was struggling, Jay Mingi was struggling.

‘Joe didn't feel great on Monday when he came out of training, but he was so desperate to play.

‘He was feeling it and just got to a stage where it wasn’t the right thing to do to keep playing him, so he will rest up and hopefully get over it in the next 24-48 hours and be available for the weekend.

‘It was nothing more sinister than that, there’s no injury, and we hope he will be okay for Fleetwood.

‘It was a chest infection, the doc has given him some antibiotics and hopefully that will flush it out of the system.’

Cowley made 10 changes to the side which lost 3-2 to Ipswich last weekend, with only Sean Raggett keeping his place.

Yet he was taken off at half-time, while Joe Morrell was given 45 minutes off the bench in the second period.

The Blues’ head coach added: ‘There were no more knocks, everything seems pretty clear.

‘We had decided Rags would play 45 minutes, we needed a centre-half on the pitch that would give some balance to the team and I thought he did brilliantly.

‘He is so robust and always wants to play, which is a credit to him.

‘Joe (Morrell) came on and got another 45 minutes and some more rhythm, which was good, and we ended up getting Josh Koroma another 60 minutes, which will be good for his fitness.’

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