Joe Gallen: Good? Everyone at Portsmouth sees Alex Bass produce displays like Oxford every day

The 21-year-old was handed only his seventh Blues first-team outing when he lined up in last night’s Leasing.com Trophy fixture at Oxford United.

He proceeded to produce a stunning display of goalkeeping in the 2-2 draw.

Then Bass conjured up the save of the night to somehow keep out Josh Ruffels’ penalty in a 5-4 shoot-out success.

With Craig MacGillivray absent on international duty, his understudy will retain his place against Gillingham on Saturday.

And, according to Pompey’s assistant boss, the calibre of performance was no shock.

Gallen said: ‘No-one is surprised. None of us within the club – the players or staff – are surprised Alex Bass has played well.

‘We’re not surprised that Alex made saves, that he looks so confident, that it seems like he has been playing first-team football for 10 years.

‘I think Alex has a big future ahead of him for Pompey and can go a long way in his career.

‘There will be no hesitation from Kenny to play him on Saturday and no-one is surprised he was man of the match last night.

‘I don’t make decisions, but him playing against Gillingham isn’t a decision for me, get on with it, no problem, Alex is that good.

‘I wouldn’t go too much on the superlatives about his performance because that’s what I would expect and that’s what I see him do all of the time. I thought he played like Alex Bass does.

‘If you didn’t know him you would be thinking “Wow, look at this kid, this is great, he made great saves”.

‘But he does it all the time, there’s no hesitation for Alex to play on Saturday.’

Bass has made just seven appearances in the last four seasons since emerging from the Academy.

The keeper has remained patient throughout and, with MacGillivray away in Scotland duty, remains in the frame for Saturday.

And against Gillingham will be handed the second Football League start of his career.

He added: ‘As soon as me and Kenny walked through the door, it was pretty obvious that this guy was going to be good.

‘He’s in a position on the pitch where it can take a while before you end up being that first-team keeper.

‘I think he is more than capable of doing it now, if I am honest, I really do.

‘Keepers get the benefit that they can still be a substitute at 38 or 39. When outfield players are finishing, they are still going strong.’