Portsmouth handed significant fitness boost after injury scare for Fulham defender
The Fulham signing had a concerning moment in Slovakia last week, after a nightmare injury period. Pompey boss John Mousinho has now delivered a positive update.
Ibane Bowat could be back at Crawley this weekend after his injury scare in Slovakia.
The defender is to see a specialist over ongoing knee discomfort on his road to a Pompey return, but could return to the first-team group at Broadfield Stadium on Saturday.
Pompey boss updates on Fulham signing after injury pain
The Fulham signing has endured a nightmare 11 months, after rupturing his patella tendon three training sessions after his Fratton Park arrival last August.
Bowat has been a heartening presence among the first-team set-up in pre-season, however, with the 22-year-old having eyes on being in contention for the Championship opener at Oxford United on August 9.
His progress slowed last week, though when feeling some discomfort in the same right knee he injured when taking a shot in training.
Mousinho explained that didn’t relate to the tendon the centre-back injured, but has now updated over Bowat seeing an expert over dealing with pain he’s suffering.
The good news, however, is the Londoner has been back in training and could be involved in West Sussex this weekend.
Mousinho said: ‘It’s just about pain management with Ibs, so he’s just seeing a specialist and consultant on that side.
‘It’s not to do with the patella tendon itself. It is to do with that knee, but it’s not the patella tendon. There’s just other issues he’s having there, but there’s nothing structural.
‘It’s just about making sure we get Ibs into the right position where he’s comfortable playing through that. It will take a bit of finesse and expertise to do that, but Ibs was back out on the grass on Tuesday.
‘He wasn’t with the full training group, but he was with the likes of Langy, Colby (Bishop) and John (Swift) as well. So we’re hoping to have him back possibly for the weekend and we will just see how he can manage that pain.’
Mousinho allays Bowat specialist concerns
Mousinho was at pains to calm any concerns over Bowat and the mention of seeing a specialist, highlighting it’s someone to help with the discomfort he’s feeling over anything more alarming.
The Pompey boss accepts, however, there are likely to be bumps in the road for the player when returning from a significant injury.
He added: ‘It’s a pain management specialist. It’s a completely different field when there’s not an injury there, but the player is in a fair bit of pain.
‘You would have seen from the session in Slovakia where he pulled out. He couldn’t continue there, but we’re not concerned about the structure of the knee. We’re not concerned about the patella tendon. It’s just finding the right solution to make sure we can get through it.
‘These things happen (after a long time out), whether it’s with pain management or sometimes picking up other injuries. It does happen, it happened with Jacob (Farrell), Regan (Poole), Shaughs and Tom McIntyre.’