Portsmouth boss details reasons behind absence of key performers from Woking victory
Pompey turned to five Academy players against Woking with a number of first-teamers absent
John Mousinho has explained the reasons behind the Pompey absences from their opening friendly match against Woking.
The Blues ran out 2-0 winners against the National League side last night, through goals from Adrian Segecic and Paddy Lane.
A total of 22 players were used as Mousinho selected a different line-up for each half, thereby ensuring every player received 45 minutes of match action.
However, there were some notable absentees, including Callum Lang, Colby Bishop, Nicolas Schmid, Harry Clout, Reuben Swann and Tom McIntyre.
And Pompey’s head coach has lifted the lid on why they didn’t feature against Woking.
‘We are going to be a bit cautious with Colby’
He told The News: ‘There might be a couple of alterations (to the squad) at Farnborough, based on illness and maybe a couple of players coming back in from the fold, but largely it will be the same.
‘There has been a combination of things, we have a couple of short-term injuries, a couple of short-term illnesses, and that is pretty much it.
‘Callum was back in training on Monday, but Colby hasn’t quite returned yet. We are probably just going to be a bit cautious with Colby, but Callum trained fully with the side.
‘He also trained on Tuesday with a smaller group, which included Colby. It’s just the contact side with Colby because he has taken a knock to his ankle. The pair of them probably won’t play against Crawley, but definitely Reading.
‘Tom McIntyre picked up a slight knock in training yesterday, nothing too bad, we are just being a bit cautious with him.
‘And we allowed Nico to stay an extra day in Austria, while we flew back. He got back into the building on Tuesday, so he will be featuring against Farnborough.
‘Harry (Clout) was one of those that was ill, so hopefully he will be here against Farnborough. While Reuben hasn’t trained since Tuesday last week in Slovakia (hip flexor) and it’s still hanging over him.’
Dipping into Pompey’s Academy
Ibane Bowat is another who missed last night’s friendly, having experienced discomfort in his right knee during training in Slovakia last Thursday.
However, Mousinho has previously insisted it has nothing to do with the patella damage the former Fulham man suffered in September last year which ruled him out for the season.
In addition, Harvey Blair is continuing to recover from the hamstring problem collected in the final day of last season against Hull.
Pompey next head to National South club Farnborough tonight (7pm) for their latest summer friendly and will again turn to their Academy to help bolster numbers.
Dane Bailey, Chinedu Agu, Jermaine Osifo, Michael Ani and Ciaran Martin all featured at Woking, backed up by a number of other youngsters, who remained on the bench for the duration of the match.
‘I’m very, very positive’
Mousinho added: ‘It was a good run out first and foremost to get the first minutes of pre-season in a fairly competitive manner against a really good National League side.
‘I’m pleased we have come through that - and also coming through unscathed in terms of injuries - and secondly the performance was good.
‘I’m very, very positive, particularly considering some of the players we had coming and making their senior debuts at a really good level. Some of the Academy buys did a really, really good job and made an impression.’