Kenny Jackett explains reasoning behind Jack Whatmough's surprise Portsmouth omission

In the absence of the suspended Christian Burgess, Whatmough was granted his first League One appearance for 13 months at Peterborough on Saturday.

However, he was withdrawn at half-time – and then subsequently left out of the 18-man squad against Fleetwood.

Instead James Bolton switched from right-back to centre-half, with Ross McCrorie coming in a full-back for last night’s 2-2 draw.

As for Whatmough, he didn’t even make the bench, with Paul Downing chosen.

Jackett said: ‘I went back to where we were for Arsenal, with Ross and James in there.

‘It gave Jack a breather out of it to see if he can get some work done, he has been sub for quite a long time without playing.

‘He hasn’t got an injury, he is absolutely fine.

‘Jack’s been sub for a while and, as the season goes on, the games get bigger and it’s hard to find your rhythm after long-term injury.

‘When you are sub, it’s hard to really push the training because you are always thinking you’re going to get on or you’re one step from it. So for the last couple of months, although he has worked hard, it has been tough for him.

‘I would suggest he needs a run of games, which is tough at this stage of the season.

‘We do plenty of in-house games, there was probably one game against Aston Villa for the under-23s which he missed, but the problem is we had a first-team match that night and he was substitute.’