Portsmouth contracts: John Mousinho reveals thoughts on ex-Gillingham defender with deal set to expire

The versatile defender is among 13 Blues players facing an uncertain future, with their contracts expiring in the summer.

Crucially, the Blues possess a 12-month option on Ogilvie, who signed a two-year deal in August 2021 after arriving on a free transfer from Gillingham.

The 27-year-old has missed just six minutes of first-team football since Mousinho was appointed, starting all 12 of the head coach’s matches in charge so far.

The ex-Spurs player is expected to retain his left-back berth for tomorrow night’s trip to Accrington (7.45pm) as Pompey seek a return to winning ways after successive defeats.

And Mousinho is adamant he wants to activate Ogilvie’s contract clause to retain him for the 2023-24 campaign.

He told The News: ‘If you look at my 12 games, Connor has started all 12. He has done really well.

‘He’s definitely a player we will be looking at in terms of his contract and trying to keep him.

‘Connor is as solid as you like at this level, you also get that solidity defensively and I know he’s played centre-half quite a bit when he was at Gillingham, in particular. We can rely on him to play there as well, not just in a three but also the two.’

‘But he has good quality going forward, the more we can release that the better because he can really add to our attacking threat.

‘Nowadays in the game, full-backs are massively important. Hopefully people see that we want to build through the full-backs in the right way and they can be nice and high, receiving the ball, crossing the ball, and creating a lot of chances.

‘Joe Rafferty against Barnsley springs to mind as a good example. It was switched from left to right and Joe was there, crossing the ball and we ended up scoring.

‘Connor is low maintenance, a great pro, he’s brilliant, I’ve never had any issues with him.

‘I’d like to keep him. We’re reviewing all of the contracts and I would be lying if I said we hadn’t spoken about what we do with Connor and taking up his option in the summer.

‘We’ve got to make sure the timescale is right and review everything properly – but that certainly is a possibility for us.’

Sheffield Wednesday marked Ogilvie’s 82nd appearance for the Blues, with five goals arriving during that time.

It was Dominic Iorfa’s foul on him which earned the Owls defender his marching orders in the second half.

And Mousinho wants to exploit Ogilvie’s attacking capabilities from left-back far more.

He added: ‘When Iorfa got his second yellow, it was for a foul on Connor in the inside channel on the left, with Reeco Hackett pulling into the left-back position.

‘Connor was stretching beyond, that’s what we want to see, we’re not going to have you stand there all the time, you have to be fluid.

‘You would probably traditionally associate Connor with being a really solid defender, but he has gone forward a few times this season and I think has done really well in those positions.’