John Mousinho reveals reasons behind Portsmouth trio's surprise absence from Bournemouth cup clash

John Mousinho has lifted the lid on the surprise absence of a trio of Pompey players expected to face Bournemouth.
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Di’Shon Bernard, Kieron Freeman and Harry Jewitt-White had all been pencilled-in to line-up against the Cherries in the quarter-finals of the Hampshire Senior Cup on Tuesday night.

Mousinho had been keen to see the three in action, intent on handing them precious match minutes having failed to feature regularly in his first-team.

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Yet, according to Mousinho, Freeman and Jewitt-White were sidelined by illness, while an ‘administrative error’ kept Bernard out of the frame.

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Kieron was going to play right-back, hopefully reward for keeping his head down and being really good. He hasn’t caused me a single problem since I’ve come here.

‘He was ill on Monday, unfortunately. There's a bit of a sickness bug going around at the moment, a couple of the players have had it, and plenty of people I know around football as well.

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‘Harry (Jewitt-White) has been off for a bit longer with it and one we would have liked to have seen on Tuesday night as well as Kieron.

Kieron Freeman was expected to feature against Bournemouth in the Hampshire Senior Cup, yet was instead laid low by illness. Picture: Paul Thompson/ProSportsImagesKieron Freeman was expected to feature against Bournemouth in the Hampshire Senior Cup, yet was instead laid low by illness. Picture: Paul Thompson/ProSportsImages
Kieron Freeman was expected to feature against Bournemouth in the Hampshire Senior Cup, yet was instead laid low by illness. Picture: Paul Thompson/ProSportsImages

‘With Di’Shon, there was an issue that he couldn’t play because of permissions granted by Manchester United. It was an administrative error.

‘I would have played him at centre-half if I could, only to find out the situation on Monday. Instead we had the chance to see Josh Dockerill coming into the team and showed glimpses of his talent.

‘For all of those first-team players that have not been playing, it would have been good to see them out there at Bournemouth - but, for those three in particular, it was probably a disappointment.’

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Meanwhile, Mousinho insists Michael Jacobs’ substitution at half-time was pre-planned and there are no injury concerns.

However, Academy defender Brian Quarm was forced off in the 47th minute with an ankle issue and replaced by Jack Fox.

He added: ‘Brian has just twisted his ankle, that was disappointing, we wanted him to get 90 minutes.

‘He has done well and played in a couple of behind-closed-doors games, but hopefully he’s not too bad, he seems okay at the moment.

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‘Michael Jacobs coming off was always planned. He’s had minutes in the first-team and it was a case of making sure he got another 45 minutes under his belt. Not for fitness reasons, but to keep himself fresh and keeping himself sharp.

‘Michael is well in contention for a place at the weekend (Port Vale) and we wanted to make sure he was fresh going into training Thursday.’