Portsmouth boss banking on unlucky forgotten man making up for lost time
Pompey’s forgotten man is back in the first-team frame - and John Mousinho is banking on recapturing the loanee’s eye-catching early-season form.
The highly-regarded Mark O’Mahony made an encouraging start to his Fratton Park career after arriving from Brighton at the end of August.
With two goals in his opening four appearances, undoubtedly it augured well, particularly in the ongoing absence of Colby Bishop.
However, a side strain sustained just 12 minutes into a substitute outing at Swansea at the end of November cut short in promising involvement.
Following a 16-game absence, O’Mahony returned to Pompey’s bench in Tuesday night’s 2-1 success over Cardiff.
And the 20-year-old is again expected to be included in the 20-man match-day squad for Oxford United tomorrow (12.30pm).
Mousinho told The News: ‘Mark was at the top of his game when he first came onto the scene with us, scoring a couple of goals and leading the line really well.
‘His performances were excellent and then probably became very similar to what you would expect from a first loan coming out of the Premier League 2.
‘Overall, I was really, really pleased with Mark’s contribution. First of all to be competitive, to start as many games as he did, to score those goals, particularly the crucial goal against Oxford. I was really happy with him.
‘As far as first loans go, Mark will be disappointed he got injured and he spent a large amount of time out.
‘Now he’s back and has a really good opportunity to kick on.’
Pompey will be missing Conor Shaughnessy for the trip to the Kassam Stadium, while Freddie Potts could once again be out of action.
That leaves Christian Saydee and O’Mahony as the striking options off the bench as alternatives to Bishop against the U’s.
Mousinho added: ‘We decide on how many strikers we want among the substitutes from game to game.
‘You need at least one on the bench, although sometimes two is a nice luxury to have. It just depends what you've got, who’s available, who you think is really firing.
‘In games as well, we have the option to play Callum up front, he’s done that a couple of times this season and done really well.
‘With Christian on the bench and Colby leading the line as well, we felt we were pretty secure at Sheffield United.’