Portsmouth boss’ forceful rebuttal key defender’s return was rushed as questions asked over injuries

And the Pompey boss has outlined the timetable for the key figure’s comeback which resulted in a recurrence of his calf issue, as he defended the club’s approach with his rehab.

Shaughnessy was dealt a weekend setback, as he became the latest in a long line of injuries to have ravaged the club since the end of last year.

The 28-year-old was forced out of the warm-up ahead of the weekend clash with Sheffield United, with Shaughnessy named in the starting line-up after six weeks out.

READ MORE: Details of Regan Poole’s road to Pompey injury recovery.

Mousinho shot down any idea there was anything contained within Pompey’s warm-up which was behind the blow, after a similar fate befell Kusini Yengi against West Brom a fortnight ago.

Shaughnessy cut a disappointed figure as he left Fratton Park after the latest development, with the former Leeds man waiting on scan results to hopefully confirm the extent of a perplexing issue.

Mousinho told how Pompey were careful with the centre-half as he made his recovery and he came through two sessions, including an intensive workout last Wednesday, before he was declared available for selection.

He said: ‘Anyone that comes back from that injury (and then suffer an injury recurrence) would be frustrated.

‘He wants to play games, so he was very down about it on Saturday.

‘I think the opposite (he came back too soon). We gave him loads of time with it.

‘We would never have brought him back if he wasn’t 100 per cent fit.

‘You can keep players back for an eternity, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

‘I have no idea what the issue is, but we will only push a player to start if they are ready.

‘We would very, very rarely do that off the back of no training or one session.

‘Conor had a full recovery that we thought he needed.

‘He was in the physio room, out on the grass with S&C (strength and conditioning) and then trained with us.

‘We could say he came back too soon, but the alternative for Conor was he would have trained on Wednesday anyway and trained on Friday.

‘Then if we decided to leave him out of the squad, his session on Saturday morning would have been far heavier than the warm-up. So that’s my point - it’s just one of those things.’