John Mousinho on the 'unlucky' Portsmouth player bidding to finally force his way back into regular contention

Now Louis Thompson is poised for a run in the side following a triumphant return in the 3-1 victory at Accrington.

The midfielder was granted only his third start under Mousinho in Tuesday night’s trip to Lancashire, replacing Ryan Tunnicliffe.

He subsequently featured for 85 minutes as goals from Joe Pigott, Reeco Hackett and Colby Bishop secured the three points.

Yet the 28-year-old doesn’t need to prove anything to Pompey's boss – who already holds him in high regard.

Mousinho told The News: ‘With Louis, for large parts it has been difficult to change the side with the performances of those that have been put in.

‘Take Ryan Tunnicliffe, for example, who has been a really good performer over those 13 games, so players like Louis have been quite unlucky.

‘We know he's a good player, we know what he's all about, we know what he’s capable of, and he hasn’t been able to start as many games as he would have liked.

‘It’s all about being ready to come on and effect games, like he did on Tuesday night, and that's what I want from the entire squad.

‘Louis is great to have around, he is obviously frustrated and that’s good, he wants to play games. I don't want players in the changing rooms who don’t want to play.

‘Louis wants to play, he’s hungry for it, he knows the best way to show the football club and staff that he wants to play is to get his head down and train really hard – and, of course, speak to me about what he needs to do to maybe play a few more games.

‘But, ultimately, the answer sometimes is that a player is just a bit unfortunate because of how well the team has been playing.

‘But it’s great that he was ready to perform at Accrington, physically, mentally, everything about it – and it’s really good to have that in the squad.’

Thompson represented one of two changes for the trip to Accrington on a chilly Tuesday night.

Reeco Hackett was also handed a recall, replacing Owen Dale on the left wing, as Mousinho sought to freshen up his side.

He added: ‘It was about a bit of freshness really.

‘In terms of the schedule over the past few weeks, we’ve had two away games – Barnsley and Cambridge United – with Sheffield Wednesday at home sandwiched between another two away games and there’s a lot of travel, especially when coming from Portsmouth.

‘It takes its toll on the lads and on Saturday it took its toll physically on everyone, you probably saw a bit of that on Tuesday night.

‘So it was just nice to be able to freshen the side up with two players who have been excellent in training, they have kept their heads down and done very well.’