'He’s looked like a Rolls-Royce' - Danny Cowley on refusing to tip off Exeter over potentially significant Portsmouth playing comeback

But the Blues boss doesn’t want to hand Exeter a helping hand by revealing whether St James Park will stage Clark Robertson’s long-awaited comeback.

Pompey’s skipper has been sidelined for three-and-a-half months by injury, yet is now in the frame from a first-team return.

Whether that includes tomorrow night’s Papa John’s Trophy trip to Exeter (7.30pm) remains a closely-guarded secret.

Meanwhile, either Ryan Tunnicliffe or Louis Thompson is also expected to feature, with the pair also coming back from injury.

But mum’s the word.

Cowley told The News: ‘Clark has been on a training pitch with the group all week and looks like Clark Robertson, which is a real positive for everybody associated with the club.

‘It’s amazing just how quickly he has been able to pick up the pace, which I suppose is what good players do.

‘He’s looked like a Rolls-Royce, which is good, and another one we are pleased to have back in the squad.

‘One of Louis and Ryan might be playing as well.

‘I’m not giving you my team, though, so you’ll just have to wait!

‘In the office, we’ve just done hours and hours of analysis work on Exeter, they have the biggest squad and, credit to them, so many good young players coming out of their Academy.

‘They have more than 30 players and we’ve had to painstakingly go through every single player and make sure we have all the details. We just don’t quite know the team they will pick.

‘So I’m not going to make it easy for those guys!’

Cowley insists there are no fresh injury concerns ahead of the Exeter visit.

Meanwhile, Academy pair Toby Steward and Harry Jewitt-White have been training with the first-team and are expected to be included.

Cowley added: ‘We have used this competition so far to benefit the squad – and that's what we’ll continue to do.

‘It has been for getting much-needed minutes into important players that are maybe on the periphery of the squad.

‘That will be our process for team selection.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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