One of the best left-backs Portsmouth never saw - a sad ending for ex-Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield man Tareiq Holmes-Dennis

However, Tareiq Holmes-Dennis’ Pompey career lasted 39 minutes.

On Sunday, three years and two months after that sole Blues outing, he announced his retirement.

It’s a heart-wrenching end for a player whose eye-catching pre-season impact tantalisingly hinted at an immense future.

Challenged with filling the left-back role vacated by Stevens’ Sheffield United departure, Holmes-Dennis’ swashbuckling friendly displays were reassuring.

Granted his debut on the opening day of the 2017-18 campaign, the loanee from Huddersfield sustained damage to his knee before half-time against Rochdale.

He would never represent Pompey again – and totalled 30 more appearances.

Only Holmes-Dennis can confidently answer whether he was ever the same player following that Fratton Park injury.

Certainly, the curtailing of playing days at the age of 24 suggests that to be the case.

By all accounts, the defender suffered the devastating blow after slipping on artificial turf adjacent to the pitch in front of the South stand.

That freak injury inflicted a permanent scar upon a bright career which at that point had warranted England under-18 recognition.

The Fratton Park newcomer had featured in four pre-season friendlies, yet the talent was obvious and the buzz among supporters tangible.

Jackett, employed following Paul Cook’s departure for Wigan, had recruited Nathan Thompson, a right-back his predecessor has also eyed.

Then Holmes-Dennis arrived in July 2017, the new manager’s second signing of a summer spent strengthening for a League One return.

Then Rochdale occurred.

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As part of the arrangement for the former Charlton man’s season-long loan, the Blues had to continue paying the wages of a player ruled out for the full term.

There was also a necessity to identify a replacement.

Within 13 days, Dion Donohue had been snapped up from Chesterfield. Then Damien McCrory arrived on loan from Burton.

Brandon Haunstrup, Sylvain Deslandes and even Matt Clarke would also serve at left-back on occasions during the 2017-18 as the Blues finished eighth.

There was even talk of a surprise Fratton Park return for Holmes-Dennis before the season was out, only for the necessity to undergo an exploratory operation at parent club Huddersfield.

For all those who auditioned, Jackett never quite managed to fill the role allocated for Holmes-Dennis that term.

Not until the summer of 2018, with Lee Brown’s arrival from Bristol Rovers, did the manager finally identify a regular left-back.

As for Holmes-Dennis, in July 2018 he joined Bristol Rovers for an undisclosed fee from Huddersfield on a two-year deal, signalling a fresh start.

This summer, upon the expiry of that deal, he left the Memorial Stadium following nine appearances last term.

Now he has walked away from football. No doubt with sympathy from the Pompey support who can still recall the true Holmes Dennis of three years and two months ago.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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