Portsmouth boss' delight at potential double injury boost ahead of Port Vale test

Pompey are eyeing a double injury boost as they attempt to build on a return to winning ways.

Joe Morrell and Joe Rafferty are pencilled in to make training comebacks on Friday ahead of the trip to Port Vale.

Morrell, who was forced off at half-time against Fleetwood with an ankle injury, is the most likely to return after fears were allayed of significant damage.

In the case of Rafferty, who injured his neck after training to rule him out of the Highbury Stadium clash, he could also train on Friday, although at this stage there remain slight doubts.

Despite representing a short-term issue, the right-back could instead be back for either Oxford United (January 30) or Northampton (February 3).

Regardless, with Pompey’s players having Thursday off, John Mousinho is looking at both potentially training on Friday.

The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘Joe Morrell should be back in training on Friday after a nasty knock to the ankle against Fleetwood.

‘He was struggling at the time and decided he would play through to half-time, playing an extra 10-15 minutes just to give us a bit more time to think about the change. When he came in at half-time, he tried again to stand up, but couldn’t put any weight onto it.

‘We weren’t sure how bad it was after the game, we had a similar sort of impact injury to Marlon Pack when he turned his ankle over. However, Joe didn’t turn his ankle over, it was just that impact.

‘As for Joe Rafferty, he still has big stiffness in the neck. He’s been out running, but hasn’t been training with us.

‘I think it’s going to be a bit too much for him to train on Friday, so, if we don't see him back at the weekend, I expect to see him for Oxford or the following weekend (Northampton).’

Encouragingly, there have been no side-effects to Tom Lowery and Connor Ogilvie following their recent injury returns.

At Fleetwood, Lowery featured for 84 minutes on his first start since the opening day of the season, while Ogilvie came off the bench for six minutes having been sidelined since October.

Mousinho added: ‘The main focus has been on Tom Lowery and Connor Ogilvie, making sure they come back and they don’t reinjure themselves.

‘Tom had to get through a bit more game time at Fleetwood than we would have ideally liked because Joe (Morrell) came off, but he did it no problem and was back training on Monday morning.

‘Connor was used as a substitute and played as much as we would have liked, coming through that and then training this week. He’s doing really well.’