Portsmouth boss on why Portchester lad has become Blues' newest first-team player

And John Mousinho is adamant Mitch Aston’s first-team recognition is reward for his encouraging progress.

The second-year scholar came off the bench to replace Jack Sparkes in Tuesday night’s 5-1 demolition of Gillingham.

Featuring for the final nine minutes in the EFL Trophy encounter, it marked his debut at the age of 17 years, five months and six days.

It’s the latest landmark for the highly-regarded midfielder, who has made seven appearances for Sam Hudson’s under-18s this season.

And the former Cams Hill School pupil’s development has caught the eye of Mousinho.

The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘We had spoken to the Academy about who was training and playing the best – and they were Mitch and Koby (Mottoh).

‘We obviously know all about Koby, we’ve seen plenty of him now, and Mitch was the other. We’d seen a bit of him in pre-season and he did pretty well with us, so it was nice to reward him for what he has done with the Academy.

‘We were going to bring him on at 4-1 and then scored the fifth to make it even more comfortable, so Mitch came on and did well.

‘He was playing slightly out of position and showed some nice touches. Whatever happens in his career, nobody can take that away from him.

‘Mitch hasn’t actually been training with the first-team, but was recommended to us. He came across with us on Tuesday morning, along with Koby, to be with us and do a bit of tactical work.

‘I watch Academy games when I can and managed to see the first half of Saturday’s game against Northampton before I had to get across to Fratton Park for the (first-team) match. I trust what the Academy staff tell us.

‘These guys work with them everyday in training, they know what they are doing well, if they are applying themselves, if they are doing their education well.

‘That’s the feedback we get – and we trust what we hear.’

Aston had previously been on the first-team bench for August’s EFL Trophy encounter with Fulham Under-21s.

Yet he was unused in the 3-3 draw, along with fellow second-year scholars Brian Quarm and Sam Folarin.

Mousinho said: ‘It was a brilliant moment for Mitch and one of the things which probably frustrated me about the Fulham game was that I thought we should have put the game to bed, especially playing against 10 men.

‘We didn’t and it starved us of the chance to actually bring some of the younger players off the bench on that occasion.’