John Mousinho on why Portsmouth bad boys were handed instant first-team returns at Barnsley

And Joe Morrell and Joe Rafferty came back from suspension to be presented with immediate starts at Barnsley on Tuesday night.

Morrell had served a one-match ban following his Peterborough dismissal and replaced Abu Kamara in the Oakwell side.

While Rafferty was available after three games on the sidelines following his red card at Stevenage, coming in at right-back for Zak Swanson, who was unavailable for family reasons.

And the experienced duo played pivotal roles in an impressive 3-2 success which lifted the Blues to the top of League One for the first time in more than a year.

Mousinho told The News: ‘There was a lot of debate over what the team selection would be at Barnsley.

‘It would have given us a headache if we’d had both Zak and Joe (Rafferty) available, but we’re in a really strong position in having two right-backs who have performed brilliantly well this season.

‘With Joe Morrell, he was probably one of our better performers against Stevenage and played really well against Peterborough, obviously getting sent off late on.

‘But I really think he deserved to come back into the side and looked fresh and sharp. He was excellent, particularly in the first half.

‘Joe has experience, he knows his way around the pitch, and we are really, really happy to have him back in, while it was nice to push Alex (Robertson) a bit further forward as well.

‘We wanted to freshen things up first of all, that’s why Abu was left out of the side after putting in a good physical effort on Saturday.

‘Joe was a pair of fresh legs and, to be honest, with the quality he’s got, it’s very easy to bring him back into the fold, particularly with how well he has played.’

While Rafferty and Morrell brought more experience to the side, Mousinho was also delighted with the team's balance in terms of younger players.

At the final whistle, Terry Devlin, Tino Anjorin, Abu Kamara and Jack Sparkes were all on the pitch, having contributed to safely seeing the Blues through to victory.

Of which former Exeter man Sparkes is the oldest – at 22.

Mousinho added: ‘We have a really good blend of experience and youngsters on the pitch and you need that.

‘We want to be progressive in terms of the way we bring players through and develop them - and had a lot of youth on the pitch at the end.

‘It was Terry’s second league game, Abu’s eighth league outing, Tino’s 18th league appearance in this country.

‘We want that, that's why we signed these players, but they’ve got a lot of learning to do.’