Kenny Jackett reveals reason behind Paul Downing's latest Portsmouth snub

The Blues boss was forced to overhaul his back line for the visit to the Crown ground as he made five changes to his starting XI.

Christian Burgess was serving a one-match ban after picking up his fifth booking of the season against Peterborough.

Brandon Haunstrup was due to undergo an operation on a knee injury on Friday, while Lee Brown was suffering from an Achilles problem.

The final contributing factor saw Oli Hawkins miss the trip to the north west after his partner gave birth to their first child.

That saw James Bolton, Sean Raggett and Anton Walkes drafted in, with skipper Tom Naylor dropping back to fill one of the vacant centre-half positions from midfield.

The decision to play Nayor there meant specialist centre-back Downing – a free transfer signing from Blackburn in the summer – had to make do with a place on the bench.

He’s made only 13 appearances for the Blues this season – six of which have come in the league – with his last League One outing coming in the 2-2 draw with Burton Albion on September 17.

Downing’s clearly down the pecking order despite arriving at Fratton Park with a big reputation.

And in his latest snub, Jackett revealed a combination of playing on-loan Rangers midfielder Ross McCrorie in his natural position and Naylor’s leadership qualities were key to a selection decision which backfired.

The Pompey manager explained: ‘We wanted to give Ross a run at his midfield position.

‘It was a close decision but I wanted to give Ross a chance to show what he can do in midfield.

‘So we went with him there and moved Tom back into the defence, in a position he knows well.

'I thought with all the changes we made at the back, Tom would help us with his talking.

‘It didn't necessarily work out that way.'

The fifth change to the Pompey starting line-up saw Marcus Harness restored to the right-wing position at the expense of Ryan Wiliams.

It represented the former Burton man’s first league start since the 1-0 win over Lincoln on October 22.

Jackett said the battle between Williams and Harness for a place on the wing is close.

On this occasion he simply gave Harness the nod.

He added: ‘It’s quite close between Marcus Harness and Ryan at times.

‘I’ve done it the other way in terms of substitutions.

‘I do think both of them are good players.'