‘Must have pretty good midfielders’: What Manchester City loanee's Australia squad omission means for Portsmouth promotion hopes

Alex Robertson being left of Australia’s Asian Cup squad is a ‘massive boost’ for Pompey’s promotion hopes.

That’s the view of Blues boss John Mousinho, after the in-form midfielder failed to make Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold’s 26-man group for the competition in Qatar next month.

Pompey striker Kusini Yengi will be involved, with his last League One involvement expected to be the New Year’s Day meeting with Stevenage. That’s a deserved reward for his performances since arriving in England this season, returning seven goals to date.

Robertson not being involved has raised some eyebrows, however, but is undoubtedly good news for Pompey’s promotion hopes. It means the Manchester City loanee will remain for the next stage of the charge for the Championship - when he could conceivably have missed seven fixtures.

Mousinho acknowledges that is undoubtedly a huge fillip for his side.

He said: ‘We like the international recognition and would be delighted if both were in the squad. We’ll get on with it and switch on to see Australia play, because they must have some pretty good midfielders in there.

‘I’m sure they do, but it’s a bonus for us Alex isn’t involved. It’s a massive boost, massive boost. We’ve spoken about Alex over the past few weeks. We need him to continue in that vein of form and keep producing the performances he’s put in.’