Portsmouth boss explains shock Thomas Waddingham full debut - and why he may stay there

The Australian forward, who turned 20 last weekend, made his first Blues start in Wednesday night’s trip to Coventry.

Playing alongside Colby Bishop in a 4-4-2 system, it represented Waddingham’s fifth outing for Pompey since his January move from A-League side Brisbane Roar.

He featured until the 55th minute, with Mark O’Mahony replacing him, as the Blues suffered the agony of a stoppage-time defeat to Frank Lampard’s men.

Yet Waddingham did enough to convince Mousinho the youngster should also be considered to face Derby in a huge Fratton Park match on Saturday.

The head coach told The News: ‘I think Tom could now keep his place, his performance on Wednesday night was definitely good enough to warrant a second look.

‘I just wanted to freshen things up from Millwall. I thought Tom’s been at it in training, he obviously scored the goal when he came on at West Brom and, overall, he’s looked really lively.

‘I actually thought he was really good (against Coventry). He tired immediately after the start of the second half, which is natural for a young lad coming over and having his first start in England on a big pitch against a side which really dominates the ball well.

‘He gives us physicality up top, he leaves Colby a bit less isolated around the channels, and, overall, it was a very, very solid performance.’

Kusini Yengi snub

Waddingham and Adil Aouchiche replaced Matt Ritchie and Terry Devlin in the starting XI at the Coventry Building Society Stadium.

With Waddingham in attack, Aouchiche operated on the right flank, and, especially early on, the Australian caused problems after pressurising Coventry defenders into mistakes.

His elevation is damning on Kusini Yengi, who, for successive matches, didn’t make the 20-man squad, despite having recovered from the hamstring issue he collected on international duty last month.

O’Mahony also returned from the back spasm which ruled him out of Millwall, featuring off the bench in attack for the last 35 minutes.

And Mousinho was pleased with how Waddingham fared in the new-look partnership with Bishop.

He added: ‘It was more of a 4-4-2. Tom was really lively in the first half, a couple of times down the right channel he caused all sorts of problems, although not quite the final product sometimes.

‘I was just really impressed and Colby had that physical domination with Tommy running off him. I quite liked that partnership.’

Pompey are currently three points off the Championship relegation zone with five matches remaining.

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