Portsmouth boss’ injury admission as side face ending Championship season with decimated defence

The Blues tonight are looking at taking on the Championship run-in with their centre-back options decimated, as the head coach confirmed the double blow of losing both Hayden Matthews and Rob Atkinson.

Matthews’ season is over and will undergo surgery after picking up an ankle injury against QPR, while Atkinson is looking at up to eight weeks out with a calf issue. It’s a devastating blow coming off the back of Conor Shaughnessy being sidelined for up to two months, with a hamstring issue suffered against Cardiff last month.

With Ibane Bowat out for the season, Mousinho opted to partner Regan Poole with Marlon Pack in the middle of the back four in the 1-0 loss to Luton, with Ryley Towler on the bench.

The Pompey boss admitted he was confident of negotiating the season’s finale with Matthews and Atkinson, after losing Shaughnessy.

But the Blues now face a fight to get over the line light on specialist experience in the position.

He said: ‘Hayden’s out for the season - he’s going to have surgery on his ankle. Rob is also facing six-to-eight weeks out with a soleus injury (calf).

‘It’s a massive blow, we looked at it when Conor Shaughnessy picked up his injury a couple of weeks ago and we thought we could sustain it with Hayden and Rob.

‘So that’s a big blow for us going into the game and also going into the back end of the season low on centre-backs.’

Mousinho pulled no punches on his side’s performance, as their run of three wins on the spin ended against a side winless in 13 at Kenilworth Road.

He added: ‘We were really poor in the first half and shot ourselves in the foot by conceding the goal in the way we did.

‘It was too much for us. We huffed and puffed in the second half and had loads of possession, opportunities to cross the ball and set-pieces but didn’t put Luton under enough pressure.

‘There are games when if it’s not quite happening for you in possession and you can’t find that magic touch in front of goal you come away with a 0-0.

‘But you don’t defend as poorly as we did for 45 minutes and that happen, so we’re really disappointed. I just can’t see why we started like we did.’