Portsmouth boss positive after Ronan Curtis’ training return as winger sees hopes of facing Sunderland in Checkatrade Trophy final at Wembley boosted

The Irishman had the stitches removed from his finger on Tuesday after severing it in his front door before the trip to Walsall earlier this month.

Now he has returned to training and with enough time to get him ready for the Checkatrade Trophy final against Sunderland at Wembley on Sunday.

Jackett was pleased with what he saw from Curtis and will continue to monitor him throughout the week.

The Pompey boss said: ‘He did train, he was good and worked hard. It will be interesting to see how the week develops with him but first impressions he looked okay.

‘Hopefully he can put it behind him and go from strength to strength. I will assess him as the week goes on, I won’t make a decision until I’ve seen him in three or four sessions.

‘The good thing is I have that time during the course of the week to make sure he is 100 per cent, feels okay and there is no infection in the finger.

‘In terms of his overall training he has only been out two weeks. There is enough time to get a few sessions under his belt and be match fit. We will see how the week progresses but it was a good start this morning.’

The Blues boss praised those who have helped Curtis overcome the nasty finger injury and made the right calls on how to move forward with the recovery.

He added: ‘It is thanks to the people in the hospital for looking after him so well. You make the right calls early on and the stitches are out now and the finger is healing well.’