John Mousinho addresses whether Ryan Tunnicliffe has a Portsmouth future after ominous developments

Yet the head coach is adamant he hasn’t now finished it, despite ominous signs in his Accrington team selection.

For the first time since Mousinho’s January arrival, Tunnicliffe failed to make his 18-man squad on Saturday.

Once Pompey’s forgotten man, the ex-Manchester United midfielder has surprisingly enjoyed a mid-season renaissance, featuring in all previous 20 matches, starting 17 of them.

Then he found himself dropped for struggling Stanley’s visit, with Harry Jewitt-White preferred in the starting XI and Louis Thompson favoured on the bench.

With two matches remaining, Tunnicliffe is out of contract at season’s end, inevitably prompting suggestions his Fratton Park stay may now be over.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Is it the end for him? Absolutely not. Whatever happens, we will review it over the next couple of weeks.

‘Whether it’s here or somewhere else, I think Ryan Tunnicliffe has shown there’s plenty left in the tank.

‘You have seen his performances over the past few weeks and it’s a guy that has been really enjoying playing his football. We’ll see what that looks like in a couple of weeks.

‘Essentially we’d seen all we needed to see from Ryan and he has done really, really well over the past few months. The words that everybody uses is the ‘rejuvenation’ of his career – and he has done that.

‘I had a conversation with Ryan on Friday about bringing Harry in to provide those fresh legs after a tough couple of games and Ryan’s fine with it. It was a really grown-up conversation, no problem whatsoever.

‘I know what Ryan can provide for us, I just want to see a different perspective and building for the future is the most important thing we are talking about here.

‘It doesn't mean that Ryan isn’t part of that, but it does mean that I’ve seen everything I need to see from him, I know how he can perform. I don’t know how Harry Jewitt-White can perform.’

Another squad regular who found himself omitted against Accrington was Reeco Hackett.

Only last month he started three consecutive first-team matches, including netting in the corresponding Accrington fixture.

Mousinho added: ‘We didn’t feel Saturday was right for Reeco and, having Dane Scarlett and Owen Dale on the bench to make those changes, along with Joe (Pigott), we had those attacking players – and unfortunately he was the one who missed out.

‘We’ve seen a lot of Reeco, he’s had a run of three starts and we know what we know about him. It’s a pretty straightforward one for us in terms of player assessment.’