'It was probably unfair': Portsmouth boss on reasons behind long-serving player's Northampton omission

John Mousinho has revealed the reasoning behind Sean Raggett’s surprise first-team omission - and why it was ‘probably unfair’.

The central defender was among four omissions for Pompey’s clash with Northampton at Fratton Park on Saturday.

Instead new signing Tom McIntyre was handed his first League One outing since September, partnering Conor Shaughnessy in the centre of defence.

It signalled the end of 15 successive league starts for Raggett, who has impressed since returning to the side following Regan Poole’s season-ending injury.

Although Mousinho has offered hope to the former Norwich man.

The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘It was a change which suited us against Northampton, so Tom came in.

‘I wasn’t quite sure if he would be ready to start, but he gave us a bit of a freshness in the way we wanted to execute the game plan, which he probably suited. For 54 minutes before he was sent off, I thought Tom did well.

‘Sean has been excellent since Regan was injured and, with centre-halves, the whole thing is sometimes a bit magnified because I don’t tend to change centre-backs too much. Although I genuinely see it as one where we go game-to-game.

‘We left Abu out because we thought he looked a bit tired. We also have options to change the lads in behind the front three and are going to do that now with everyone across the pitch. There have been times this season where we’ve changed both full-backs - I think the same applies for centre-backs.

‘When we select the side, it’s about what we think is going to be best suited for that game. The big thing now is we have more options in the building.

‘I spoke to Sean on Friday and one of my messages was, I know you’re going to be disappointed and I want you to be disappointed, but football changes really quickly.

‘We saw that again on Saturday with Tom’s sending off. We needed Sean, we relied on him, we have to make sure he’s there as a good pro, keeping his head down and keeping everything ticking over.’

Despite dropping to the bench, Raggett played the last 33 minutes following McIntyre’s dismissal.

Entering for Myles Peart-Harris, he helped the Blues to a 4-1 success which extended their lead to four points at the top of League One.

Mousinho added: ‘Sean could easily have decided it was unfair - which it probably was - and then he came on and did a really good job seeing the game out for us.

‘Overall, he’s been a centre-half in a side which is top of the league, kept plenty of clean sheets, scored three times, and there has still been competition with the players we’ve got in the building.

‘It’s one I understand as a centre-back myself, it’s magnified. It’s just about having more options.’