'There's hope': Portsmouth boss John Mousinho remaining optimistic after devastating Conor Shaughnessy blow
The central defender has suffered a quad injury just four games into his latest comeback
John Mousinho insists there remains ‘hope’ that Conor Shaughnessy’s injury prognosis isn’t as bad as initially feared.
Although the Blues boss admits there’s ‘half a chance’ the Irishman will not play again this season.
A scan has revealed Shaughnessy has suffered a tear in his quad, sustained during last Saturday’s 1-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday in only his fourth game back from injury.
Indeed, Mousinho is adamant the central defender has not trained since that Hillsborough trip - and absolved blame on Pompey’s Copnor Road training pitches.
Still, the Blues are seeking a second opinion on the extent of the former Leeds man’s injury - with fingers well and truly crossed.
He told The News: ‘Shaughs felt his quad just towards the back end of the (Sheffield Wednesday) game.
‘He finished the game, felt a bit of tightness, came in on Sunday, felt okay, he’s had a scan and the scan doesn’t look great, but we’re waiting for a second opinion because Shocks himself feels okay.
‘We are hoping that it has just been misreported, but we’ve just got to see what it looks like in the next couple of days.
‘If you are going off the scan report there’s half a chance he could be out for the season. If you are going off Shocks’ symptoms, then you would think he might be available for Southampton. So hopefully it’s not too bad, but we have to wait for a specialist.
‘I spoke to Shocks today and it feels all right, it feels like a bit of tightness. We’ll have to have a look at it, let someone who knows a lot more than me have a look at the scan - and then go from there.
‘He didn’t train, he felt it on Saturday, he came in on Sunday and he didn’t train on Monday and Tuesday. It has nothing to do with the training ground.’
Shaughnessy had previously missed four months with a hamstring injury sustained in September against Sheffield Wednesday.
He returned in the final game of 2025, scoring after coming off the bench in the dramatic 2-1 win over Charlton at Fratton Park.
Now, four games later, he is injured again.
He added: ‘A lot of our injuries this year have been picked up in games. I can’t remember too many injuries we've actually picked up in training, to be honest. A lot of them are in games, the intensity of which we try to play and try to press.
‘With Shocks, we had a sensible build up, he had a lot of training behind him before he played 30 minutes against Charlton, he played 60 minutes against Bristol City, he played 60 minutes against Arsenal.
‘We had a full week between the Arsenal game and the Sheffield Wednesday game, so we were really happy he could go and play 90 last Saturday.’