Portsmouth boss explains why £500,000 signing from Fulham wasn't handed Sunderland start amid defensive injury woes

The £500,000 arrival from Fulham - the Blues’ 15th and final signing of the transfer window - was named on the bench for the Fratton Park club’s Championship head-to-head with the Black Cats which ended in a 3-1 defeat.

The Pompey head coach kept faith with the central defensive partnership of Jordan Wiliams and Ryley Towler that served him well at Middlesbrough seven days earlier. That was after Conor Shaughnessy was not deemed fit to feature after missing last weekend’s trip to the Riverside Stadium through illness.

Bowat was recruited on transfer deadline day to help ease concerns about the Blues’ options in that position, with Regan Poole and Tom Mcintyre continuing to be absent through injury.

However, Mousinho claimed the Scotland under-21 international’s lack of game time in pre-season at Craven Cottage made it difficult to consider him for a starting role. He added the frantic nature of the defender’s arrival - after spending last season on loan at Austrian Bundesliga side TSV Hartberg - meant Bowat was also afforded little time to prepare fully for the game.

Speaking to BBC Solent following the Sunderland defeat, the Blues head coach said: ‘Ibane has had a stop-start pre-season in terms of game minutes and I think there was a definite realisation from from both parties that Ibane was going to leave Fulham and that meant his game time was limited in pre-season.

‘So he’s had a couple of half hours. That’s absolutely fine. He left on really good terms but it was one of those where he’s just not had the minutes to be able to come in and start.

‘We only actually got him in the building to train yesterday morning (Friday). When you do those sorts of things, and it’s really frantic the day before, for Ibane and everything he’s focused on, it’s actually as far away from being able to start a game and prep yourself to start a game as possible.

‘It’s a very long-winded way of saying he just wasn't ready, but we’re really excited about having him in the building and think he’s going to provide a lot for us.

‘He’s a young talent who’s had a couple of really successful loans in top leagues in Europe and is one I think we’re going to see a lot of.’

Bowat will now have a full two weeks to integrate himself into the Pompey way of doing things as clubs take a break from playing due to the international break.

The Blues’ next game is against West Brom on Sunday, September 15 - by which time they also hope to be able to call upon certain members of the squad who have so far missed the start of the season because of injury.