Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley has injury hope ahead of Derby County visit to Fratton Park

However, he was remaining cautious on that front, with Clark Robertson, Zak Swanson and Ronan Curtis all still doubts for the visit of the Rams.

Curtis missed the trip to Morecambe following an ankle injury he picked up in the FA Cup first-round win at Hereford.

That saw him join Tom Lowery, Michael Jacobs, Joe Rafferty, Louis Thompson and Jayden Reid on the injury list.

And although Marlon Pack was one less number in the treatment room following his welcome return against the Shrimps – he was soon replaced by both Robertson (Achilles) and Swanson (knee), who could not finish last Saturday’s game at the Mazuma Stadium.

The former was replaced at half-time by Denver Hume, after failing to recovery from a challenge by Jacob Bedeau.

Meanwhile, the latter took a knock to his knee in the second half and had to be replaced by Jay Mingi on 84 minutes.

It’s unlikely Lowery will be fit to face Derby, following a setback in his attempt to recovery from a hamstring injury.

The same applies to Jacobs, who is also out with a hamstring complaint.

So that leaves Cowley hoping he can call upon one or two from Robertson, Swanson and Curtis for the visit of Paul Warne’s side.

Speaking to The News ahead of the game, the Blues boss said: ‘We're hopeful we'll have one or two back available tomorrow night that will help the group.

‘Whether that will be the case, time will tell.

‘We obviously lost Zak Swanson and Clark Robertson in game on Saturday, which kind of added to our woes, and we're incredibly frustrated with the Tom Lowery situation.

‘But this is not a time to feel sorry for ourselves, this is not a time to make excuses.

‘He have to find solutions and find a way to be the best versions of ourselves tomorrow night and put in a really good performance that the city of Portsmouth can be really proud of.’