Portsmouth boss keeping fingers crossed his 'absolute warrior' will be fit for Bristol Rovers opener

An ankle issue has restricted Colby Bishop to just three pre-season friendlies, most recently Saturday's visit of Bristol City.

Last term’s 24-goal striker featured for 63 minutes – his longest spell on pitch during the summer schedule.

Pompey’s medical team will assess his reaction to that outing against the Championship side, with League One’s August 5 opener looming.

And, having nursed Bishop through pre-season, Blues’ head coach is keeping his fingers crossed the former Accrington man will be able to start against Bristol Rovers.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Colby’s ankle is absolutely fine, we are managing him through, just making sure.

‘He’s struggled with a couple of injuries in this pre-season, so we’re making sure we’re giving him the best possible chance to recover so he can be on that pitch.

‘We need to see what the reaction is to Bristol City. There was a reaction after Crawley, which meant he didn’t face AFC Wimbledon, so we’ll just see the outcome.

‘I can’t recall Colby missing too many training sessions between games last season, I thought he was an absolute warrior in terms of what he put into the matches. He’s such a physical battle out there.

‘That’s one of the reasons we want to manage Colby, making sure he’s fit for Saturday (against Bristol Rovers). Hopefully he is.

‘We have brought in two other centre-forwards to compete for that spot and I think we have excellent cover.’

Bishop netted a penalty in the opening friendly against Europa FC at the Estadio Jose Burgos De Quintana in Malaga.

However, he injured his ankle in training days following the Blues’ return from that six-day Spanish training camp.

He subsequently did not feature against the Rocks, Gosport and the Hawks, before making a 60-minute comeback against Crawley.

Colby was then absent from the trip to Wimbledon – but came into the team once more for Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Bristol City.

Mousinho added: ‘If Colby can replicate what he did last year and put a bit on top of it then great.

‘Obviously he’s crucial to us in terms of goal scoring, but the most important thing for me with Colby is making sure his overall play is as good as it has been. I know the goals will come off the back of that.

‘Last year when the goals dried up for him over a very short spell, he continued to do the right things.

‘I just want him to focus on his performance because he can be the focal point of the team.’