Latest: Portsmouth boss gives Tom Lowery injury update after concerning knee injury

But Blues boss John Mousinho stressed a belief the midfielder isn’t injury prone, as they wait for news over his knee injury.

Lowery is set to see a specialist next week following a scan, after being forced off on the opening day against Bristol Rovers.

It’s the latest blow for the Crewe arrival, whose maiden season at Fratton Park was beset by fitness issues.

Mousinho explained Pompey still don’t know the extent of the time out he faces, but he’s not going to return imminently.

He said: ‘Tom had the scan and is going to see the specialist – the specialist wants to speak to him on Tuesday.

‘It’s not going to be a matter of days or a week here or there. It’s going to be at least a few weeks with Tom, but we’re waiting to see what the consultant says before we update.

‘We don’t actually know, so he (the specialist) wants to read the scan again and talk through the options with Tom.’

Lowery was restricted to 21 appearances in his maiden Pompey season, but returned with 10 outings after coming back in March.

Mousinho made it clear the new issue is unrelated to his past problems - and there’s nothing the schemer could’ve done to stop the problem.

He added: ‘We feel for Tom and the thought with people is he may be injury prone.

‘This one is just a knee injury and he’s dreadfully unfortunate. There’s nothing he could have done - he came back really fit and all the smaller niggles had been addressed.

‘I thought he was one of our outstanding performers in pre-season. It’s just really unfortunate and there’s nothing he could have done about it.

‘So he’ really unlucky, but I know Tom will bounce back from this.’