Portsmouth boss delivers big Callum Lang injury update at critical moment in Championship survival bid

But Blues boss John Mousinho stated it’s unlikely the key figure will be back in action this term - though he’s not completely writing off an against-the-odds comeback for the attacker.

Mousinho admitted the circumstances surrounding the Championship survival chase could impact the decision over whether to risk his side’s top scorer, after crossing a key landmark on his fitness recovery.

Lang has been sidelined for exactly two months after suffering a hamstring injury in the win at Oxford United, missing nine games at a critical moment in the campaign.

Now he’s stepped up his return, though Mousinho told of his concern about the potential for an injury recurrence for the 26-year-old given his all-action if he’s risked before the summer.

The Pompey head coach saluted Lang’s spirit and determination to play a part for his team, but underlined caution has to be exercised.

Mousinho said: ‘It doesn’t surprise me at all (that he’s trying to return this season).

‘He’s been training now for the past couple of days, but is a bit further behind Shaughs and Rob.

‘I think Langy was originally a 12-week injury which we’re now 10 weeks into now.

‘The other issue we have with Langy, though, is he’s all-action and 100 per cent all of the time.

‘That’s compared to centre-backs, speaking from experience, who can turn up sometimes and work their way through games.

‘I don’t think Callum has the ability to do that, in fact I know he hasn’t, so we have to be a bit more careful with him.

‘So we’ll see where he is, probably at the back end of next week, but I’m very doubtful we’ll see him again this season. It’s not entirely out of the question, but I’m 99.9 per cent sure.’

Mousinho has shown this season he has been prepared to push for players to make a return from injury, with Rob Atkinson underlining that fact against Derby County last weekend.

And that will certainly be the case as they eye Lang’s progress now, with everything at stake as Pompey fight for their Championship status.

Pompey weigh up Lang risk and reward

Mousinho explained the Blues do need to weigh up the obvious gains of having the former Wigan man involved, against the level at which the 11-goal marksman will be operating at.

He said: ‘It’s protecting Langy from himself but also we need to look at it and ask, do we have a fully fit player coming back on to the football pitch? As much as Cal wants to come back and play, we just have to be really careful with it.

‘We’ve spoken about how we got Rob back in quicker than anticipated. We started thinking about that off the back of the Millwall game and after Coventry. We thought if we had half a chance of getting him back we’d push him back. We’ll see what that’s like with all of the injuries.’

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