Portsmouth encouraged by Jack Whatmough injury progress
Jack Whatmough has been ruled out of a Plymouth return – yet Joe Gallen insists the central defender remains on schedule.
According to assistant manager Gallen, the 24-year-old’s recovery is going according to plan.
That will put him in the first-team frame for either Crewe (November 21) or Oxford United (November 24).
However, he is not expected to be available for the next League One fixture at Plymouth (November 16).
Gallen told The News: ‘Jack’s making good progress, actually.
‘I think Plymouth will probably be too close for him, but certainly I hope he might be able to train that week.
‘Hamstrings are difficult to judge and are repeat injuries, but I’d say he is on track.
‘Crewe or Oxford are a potential for Jack, but he’s making good progress and it will be sooner rather than later after the Plymouth game.
‘Ellis (Harrison) got back after two weeks, but Jack may be 2-3 weeks to be safe. That’s the key word – to be safe.
‘After the Plymouth game he won’t be too far away, but may need a week’s training before he can be put up for selection.’
Harrison, Whatmough and Lee Brown have all recently collected hamstring problems.
Fortunately for the Blues, all sustained grade one tears, representing the lowest amount of damage.
Harrison has since made two appearances, while Brown is sidelined after feeling his hamstring in the warm-up at Lincoln last Tuesday.
Gallen added: ‘We took a slight risk with Ellis for the Charlton game, if I’m being honest.
‘But he trained well on the Thursday before. That's probably one we maybe got away with.
‘A week’s training does give you a good, solid base to get those things right. We took a risk with Ellis and that one went for us in the end because he’s been fine since.
‘Lee Brown is a bit behind because his happened later. Sometimes with hamstrings you can rip them to shreds and they can be 6-8 weeks.
‘On all three occasions recently (Harrison, Whatmough and Brown), they were minor tears – but tears nonetheless.’
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