‘Levels we can expect’: Portsmouth’s fitness boost for Blackburn Rovers with former Barnsley and Huddersfield Town man touted to return at high level

The right-back makes his comeback from two months out against Blackburn Rovers this weekend, with the summer arrival from Barnsley backed to positively impact the final eight games of the season by John Mousinho.

Williams has trained for the past fortnight across the international break, so now is at a good level to compete for a starting role this weekend with Zak Swanson and Terry Devlin.

It’s been a stop-start season for the 25-year-old impacted by hamstring and hip injuries, but Williams was showing a high level of performance before his latest setback against West Brom in January.

Williams produced a man-of-the-match performance in the previous outing against Stoke before being hit by the latest issue in the Baggies reverse, as Mousinho rang the changes at The Hawthorns.

Now the expectation is for the free transfer signing to make a significant mark, with the season at a critical moment.

Mousinho said: ‘Jordan’s trained for the past couple of weeks, so Jordan back and available.

‘If you look at how Jordan played against Middlesbrough and Stoke, I thought he was excellent.

‘He was outstanding against Stoke, in particular. We then deliberately rested him against West Brom, because we didn’t want him to play three games in a week. We then thought it would be good for him to get the last 20 minutes to get him going given his time out, but unfortunately he got injured in that time.

‘So it’s been stop-start for Jordan, but his most recent spell particularly I thought he was really, really good.

‘That’s what we can expect from him between now and the end of the season. The last spell he played was much more like the levels we can expect from him.’

Barnsley arrival’s role is clear

Williams’ time at Pompey has also been marked by the former Huddersfield Town man filling in as a central defender, as his side were decimated by injuries in the middle. Among his absences Swanson and Devlin have vied for the right-back role, but Mousinho made it clear that will be position Williams is now also considered for.

He added: ‘He did a job for us in the middle earlier in the season, when we were lacking in options.

‘Regan (Poole) was out and then Shaughs (Shaughnessy) picked up his injury and we were down to the bare bones, so Jordan did a good job deputising in a position he wasn’t particularly used to in a back four.

‘But he’s definitely a right-back, we’ve seen that and we’ve seen that’s where he is best.’

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