Portsmouth boss refuses to wait - and pinpoints key man's long-awaited comeback game

And he has pinpointed the Good Friday trip to Norwich as a potential return to the starting XI for the influential defender.

Atkinson is expected to be back in training this week after six weeks on the sidelines following a calf injury sustained against QPR.

Mousinho believes Saturday’s clash with Derby would be too soon for the Bristol City loanee’s playing comeback - yet he has no intention of easing him back into the action.

And with no time to waste, Pompey’s head coach is targeting Norwich on April 18.

He told The News: ‘Rob probably needs time. Perhaps he comes straight into the squad on Saturday. But I just think that, having been out for the period he has, Saturday is going to be too quick.

‘We are in a position now where we have to take every single injury on its merits. There might have been times earlier in the season where we took a bit of a longer-term view.

‘If we are looking at the last three or four games of the season, rather than give him an extra week, we have to give him a couple of days after he comes back in, hence he’s not going to be fit for Derby.

‘Previously, we might have gone “We'll do an extra week”. Now I think it will be right for him to come back into the Norwich game.

‘Something I have learnt through football is, particularly at the back end of the season, you need to make those decisions and make short-term decisions, bearing in mind player welfare as well.

‘We don’t want players to get injured unnecessarily, but we have to make short-term decisions and make sure we get things right and get results.’

‘Massive, massive impact’

Should Mousinho stick to that timetable, Atkinson will be available for the final four matches of the season - Norwich, Watford (April 21), Sheffield Wednesday (April 26) and Hull (May 3).

Meanwhile, Conor Shaughnessy is expected to return to training next week following the hamstring injury which has kept him out of the Blues’ last eight games.

In terms of Atkinson, though, he is a step ahead in his rehabilitation and Mousinho is looking forward to finally having the left-sided centre-half back in his first-team plans.

The Blues head coach added: ‘Look at the games Rob has played in for 90 minutes in, such as Sheffield United and Burnley. Then there were the three wins on the spin against Cardiff, Oxford and QPR. He played in them all.

‘He didn’t play at West Brom, he played against Middlesbrough and Stoke. All of those games were either good performances or wins.

‘Rob’s made a massive, massive impact.’

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