Portsmouth boss assesses Gosport loan destination for Haji Mnoga after cameo

But the door remains open for a potential Privett Park loan spell as Pompey seek to find games to maintain the defender’s development.

The 18-year-old lined up for Shaun Gale’s side in their friendly against the Hawks on Tuesday night.

Fellow Academy players Gerard Storey and Eoin Teggart also started as hosts Gosport ran a 1-0 winners through Elliot Charles’ goal.

Following the arrival of Callum Johnson to rival James Bolton for the right-back spot, Mnoga has been earmarked for a loan spell.

And Jackett is still examining the best location for the defender.

He told The News: ‘Last night was a one-off. We’ll see what the situation is and will assess it as we go along.

‘Haji’s a good player, a right-back and right centre-half, but he is not quite going to start for us.

‘We need to give him some minutes through pre-season, though, and we have been doing that.

‘We are thankful to Gosport for playing him. You can do all the training you want, but he is 18 now and needs to play some minutes in men’s football.

‘There’s some flexibility with the local games as well, it’s a good standard, there are some good players there and there’s nothing like playing.

‘Haji is strong enough to play in men’s football, so we’ll see how things go with him over the next few weeks.

‘In particular, we’ll see how things go with our back four as to whether he is going to be closer to it where he is now – or we put him out on loan permanently.

‘It suited Gosport to have a look at him as well and see how he did.

‘It is important for us to put him into that standard of football and also play against men, most of his experience has been in youth football.’

Irishman Storey featured for 88 minutes in Gosport’s victory, while Teggart was substituted at half-time.

Teggart previously turned out for the Rocks on Friday night against Chichester City, along with Pompey striker Alfie Stanley, who netted.

And Jackett is keen to get the Academy crop match minutes in local football.

He added: ‘That group of lads have just come out of youth football and some local senior football will be great for them in pre-season.

‘We’ll see what happens.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.