Portsmouth boss reveals reasons behind ex-Crystal Palace starlet's surprise first-team entrance - and why he was impressed

And John Mousinho has praised the Nyewood Lane impacts of Sam Folarin and Koby Mottoh having caught the eye in the 1-1 draw.

With Colby Bishop and Christian Saydee ruled out with ankle knocks and Kusini Yengi not yet available following his arrival, the Blues’ head coach was left short of attacking options for Tuesday night’s trip to the Rocks.

The duo had not even trained with the first-team this pre-season, yet Mottoh featured in the first half on the right wing.

At half-time, Folarin was introduced off the bench in an encouraging outing which saw him thwarted by a stunning save and also win the second penalty from which Joe Morrell netted.

And it was the former Crystal Palace striker, in particular, who impressed Mousinho.

The Blues boss told The News: ‘Sam is one of those that has impressed early in pre-season with the youth-team and deserved his chance with the two centre-forwards out injured and one not making it.

‘It was really, really pleasing to see someone as young and as hungry as him. His work-rate was excellent and made some really good runs, although final touches around the box is where he can really improve.

‘Sam also created some really good chances for himself, particularly the one on the left foot. A bit further down the line in his development he puts his foot through that across the goal and hopefully buries it into the bottom corner.

‘On another occasion, there was a shot following a cross from the left which drew an excellent save and would have capped a really good move.

‘Sam came in on late notice, with Colby picking up his injury on Monday. So for someone to come into the first-team environment having not trained with us was really positive – and I’m impressed he performed as well as he did.’

Meanwhile, the opportunity for the Nyewood Lane crowd to see Mottoh was also gratefully received.

And there were glimpses of quality from the promising former Arsenal youngster.

Mousinho added: ‘Koby did pretty well in flashes and did not look out of place.

‘He probably struggled to get into the game a huge amount in the first half, but has come in from the cold and is another who didn’t train with us.

‘We know more about Koby than most of the youth team because he trained with us last year and was on the bench for that one game (Port Vale).’