Portsmouth caretaker explains Josh Oluwayemi's shock Bolton omission - and absences of Blackpool loanee and ex-Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester defender

Although Pompey’s caretaker boss wouldn’t be drawn any further into the reasoning behind that Papa Johns Trophy omission.

The former Spurs keeper had previously started all five of the Blues’ matches in the competition en-route to Tuesday night’s quarter-final encounter.

He had impressed during that time, including saving three penalties in a shoot-out victory against AFC Wimbledon in November.

However, the 21-year-old found himself on the bench for the 1-0 defeat to the Trotters at the University of Bolton Stadium.

Instead Josh Griffiths was handed his first start in the competition since arriving at Fratton Park on a season-long loan from West Brom.

And Oluwayemi was an unused substitute as Pompey failed to live up to the promising levels demonstrated at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.

Bassey told The News: ‘He (Oluwayemi) has a little issue, but he will be all right.

‘I wouldn’t say it was an injury, but he understood the reasoning and we are fine with that.

‘He has done well, we have a lot of faith in Josh, he’s a really good goalkeeper - but everyone is fine with that.

‘It should be resolved soon, nothing long term.’

Meanwhile, Owen Dale was suspended from Pompey’s trip to the University of Bolton Stadium.

He collected bookings in victories over Ipswich and Stevenage in the competition, rendering him unavailable for one match.

While Michael Morrison, who like Dale started against Spurs in the FA Cup on Saturday, was also not in Pompey’s 18-man squad at Bolton.

Bassey explained his absence as wanting to play a back four and giving the 34-year-old time off rather than asking him to travel with the squad and not play.

He added: ‘Owen (Dale) is suspended, two yellow cards in the competition.

‘With Michael it’s down to purely a three-game week and he’s an experienced player.

‘We were going to play a back four at Bolton, so it made no sense travelling Michael up and down the country when he could get some good recovery at home.’