Fulham signing hands Portsmouth massive boost ahead of new Championship campaign
The Fulham signing has handed John Mousinho a big fitness boost ahead of the new Championship season.
Ibane Bowat has handed Pompey a huge fitness pick-me-up with a return to full training.
And John Mousinho has outlined how pre-season minutes on the pitch are on the agenda for the central, as he steps up his return to full fitness.
Fulham signing hits big fitness landmark
Bowat put approaching 11 months of injury pain behind him yesterday, as he went through a full training session with the rest of the squad at their pre-season training camp in Slovakia.
It’s a major boost for player and club with the Fulham signing enduring a nightmare period, after rupturing the patella tendon in his right knee in training.
Mousinho feels it provides a big lift for both player and club, as the defender crosses a major landmark in his recovery.
He said: ‘It’s brand new for everyone to see Ibs out on the training pitch and he got through a full session.
‘He’s had a couple of modified sessions but that was his first full session.
‘It’s good and it’s decent progress because it was a heavy session and there was a lot of distance covered.
‘It’s going to be very interesting to see how Ibs gets on, but he’s done very well.
‘I think so (it’s a psychological boost)
‘It’s been a really tough period for him, he’s been out for the best part of 11 months.
‘He’s a player who came in, had three training sessions and then tore his patella tendon.
‘He came in with a lot of promise and we’re now looking forward to seeing more of him.
Playing time the next Pompey target for Bowat
Mousinho explained the plan from here on in is for Bowat to pick up minutes in pre-season, with games on the horizon for Pompey.
There’s a quick-fire double next week with matches against Woking and Farnborough to come next Tuesday and Wednesday, before a trip to Crawley follow on July 19.
The Blues will exercise caution over how they ease Bowat back in after such a testing period, but the plan is for the centre-back to see more playing time for the final three games against Reading, Hawks and Dutch outfit Pec Zwolle.
Mousinho detailed the plans from this point for the Londoner, with the target match sharpness and fitness building into the Championship opener at Oxford United on August 9.
He added: ‘It will be limited game time for him with the two games next week.
‘We won’t be seeing a huge amount of Ibs.
‘We’ll reintroduce him gradually and then after the Crawley game we roll into games where we can see him feature more frequently.
‘I think it will be a couple of weeks for Ibs before he’s back at it fully.’