Portsmouth defender Ibane Bowat to see a specialist as he plays through the pain during long-awaited comeback
The former Fulham man arrived at Fratton Park in September 2024
John Mousinho admits Ibane Bowat is playing through the pain as he drives ahead with his Pompey comeback.
Yet the head coach is adamant the situation is ‘not out of the ordinary’ for players returning from long-term injury.
The former Fulham man marked the resumption of playing duties at Reading last Saturday and has since made three outings, totalling 92 minutes.
It’s encouraging progress for Bowat, who sustained a season-ending knee injury just 12 days into his Fratton Park career following his September 2024 arrival.
According to Mousinho, the 22-year-old is continuing to feel discomfort in the knee he damaged, although thankfully not in the same patellar tendon area.
And he believes the situation can be managed with a visit to a specialist and won’t impact the defender’s progression.
The Blues boss told The News: ‘It has been a long road to recovery for Ibane and he just needs to keep building on that.
‘In an ideal world, we would have got him 30 minutes in the Woking or Farnborough games, but we weren’t able to do that because of the issues he’s had. However, we are in a decent enough spot now, so we can build over the next couple of weeks and see where he is.
‘It’s just pain management - and that is something Ibane has to see the specialist about. Then it’s experimenting with how he feels in training, how he feels in games.
‘Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t, in my experience in my career it depends on what sort of injury you have. It’s something which isn’t completely unexpected, having had such a severe injury when he actually tore his patellar tendon.
‘Once he gets through that, we can start at some point getting him back to a player who doesn't have to rely on anything other than just going out and playing.
‘That is a longer process for Ibane, but, at the minute, he can definitely keep building on those minutes and it’s great to see him out there.’
Bowat returned to full training this summer and travelled with the squad on their Slovakian training camp.
However, he was forced out of training on the final day having felt discomfort in his knee. The centre-half subsequently sat out friendlies against Woking, Farnborough and Crawley.
The presence of triallist Nathan Ferguson has presented the Blues with a stand-in in the centre of defence, although the former West Brom man has switched to right-back since Bowat’s return against Reading.
Bowat featured for 31 minutes against the Royals, then started the first half of the goalless draw with the Hawks on Tuesday night.
He was also involved in Wednesday afternoon's behind-closed-doors friendly against Brighton under-21s, appearing for 16 minutes as the Blues posted a 4-0 victory.
Mousinho added: ‘The pain situation happens a lot of the time. When Regan came back from his ACL injury, it was everything else he felt apart from the knee.
‘You start to feel your hamstring, start to feel your calf, start to overcompensate for a fair few things and that can just happen, so it’s not out of the ordinary.’