LATEST: Portsmouth boss delivers significant injury update over Wigan Athletic arrival after knee concern for former Lincoln City and West Ham United man

But the Blues want to give the winger clarity he can return to action at full tilt before giving the green light for his comeback.

Scully was missing from the trip to Stevenage last weekend with a knee issue, and will sit out of the clash with Peterborough.

Pompey want to compare recent scans on the summer signing from Wigan with ones he undertook during his medical in the summer, to ensure there’s no major issue.

Both the player and Pompey boss John Mousinho are quietly confident that will be the case.

Mousinho said: ‘Anthony had the scan results back and a surgeon read the scan on Tuesday.

‘The results are prompting us to get another opinion on it, which sounds worse than it is.

‘But what we need to do is compare the scan he had with the one he had in the summer as part of his medical. That’s due diligence to see if there’s any difference there.

‘It’s not a situation where Anthony would have been touch and go for the weekend, so it’s fine to take a bit of extra time with it.

‘We want to see Anthony is back fit, firing and ready to train when he does come back.

‘So we’ll take a bit of time with it. It doesn’t seem one which is going to be a long injury, but if we have to take a minute to get it right then that’s what we’ll do.’

Mousinho explained he feels it’s important Scully has some certainty over the condition of his knee, before making his return after the international break.

The Irishman played with the issue at the start of the season and was reticent to sit things out, as the former Lincoln man looked to make an impression at his new club.

Mousinho said: ‘We want to give him the clarity that when he does step back on to the training pitch he’s 100 per cent.

‘Sometimes that means you’re playing through a bit of pain, but it’s not doing more damage. Mentally that alleviates any worries and means you can go full tilt - anyone who’s played football will know that feeling.

‘We want to put him into as good a frame of mind as possible.

‘All the players who have come in and show that desire to affect the side.

‘Anthony was probably doubly frustrated having not played much at Wigan having gone to the Championship looking for big things.

‘It was refreshing to hear him talk about coming here as an opportunity and challenge.

‘New players do sometimes take time to bed in, though. It’s a huge adjustment to come to a new club, let alone Portsmouth with the weight of expectation and what we put on the players as well.

‘That’s part of the reason we brought them in - because we think they can handle it.

‘With Anthony he’s not been at 100 per cent capacity physically, so once we get that right and he marries settling in with firing physically I think he’s going to be a real threat.’