Portsmouth boss John Mousinho expected to show his ruthless streak again for Championship visit to Hull

The Blues boss has proven he’s not one to shy away from big decisions after waving goodbye to several key members of the Blues’ League One title-winning season in the summer.

He’s also wielded the axe in the Championship this season, with some big-name players dropped - including Will Norris and Marlon Pack - as he goes in search of form that will hopefully catapult Pompey off the bottom of the table.

Now Saturday’s game against Hull could offer up another glimpse of the head coach’s desire to win, with his goalkeeping department back to full capacity.

Jordan Archer has impressed since stepping into Nicolas Schmid’s boots, after the Austrian suffered a head injury while trying to keep out Cardiff’s second goal in their recent 2-0 win against the Blues.

He kept a clean sheet after coming on as a 31st-minute substitute against the Bluebirds, while Archer could do little to prevent Sheffield Wednesday from running out 2-1 winners at Fratton Park last Friday.

Schmid’s back and available, though, alongside former No1 Norris, who’s time on the sidelines has been accompanied by a knee injury. And while the latter is likely to remain out of favour for the game at the MKM Stadium, there’s every chance former Millwall and QPR keeper Archer could be asked to make way for Schmid.

Explaining the situation on the latest episode of Pompey Talk - which is available to watch on Freeview channel 262 - The News’ chief sports writer, Neil Allen, said ‘You’ve got to remember that Archer, when everyone is fit, is third-choice keeper.

‘So is he suddenly going to be catapulted into first-choice? Has he done enough?

‘Sheffield Wednesday was his first start in three-and-a-half years in the league. So you have to consider these factors.

‘Schmid is ahead of him. It’s about whether he (Mousinho) puts him ahead of him for this match, whether they stick with Archer because he’s not particularly done anything wrong and he did well at Cardiff, or do they get ruthless and say Schmid is the better goalie and he goes in?

‘We will see, but I will defend Schmid a little bit for the mistake he made in Pompey’s recent win against QPR.

‘I say it was a mistake, but It was a high line from Pompey, the ball came over the top and he had to come out of the box.

‘He had to head it when he came out and it was difficult for a keeper to get a really powerful header. He’s not Sean Raggett, so it was always a difficult situation that the goalkeeper was put in.’