'I'd hate to play against him': Portsmouth boss on why Australian sensation had to start against Oxford United

John Mousinho insists he had no hesitation handing Aussie kid Adrian Segecic a Pompey start in their Championship opener.

And after watching a stunning debut from the 21-year-old against Oxford United, the Blues boss admitted he would have hated to have faced him.

Segecic grabbed the only goal of the game with a 38th-minute winner as Pompey secured a 1-0 victory in their league curtain-raiser at the Kassam Stadium.

It capped a wonderful performance from the former Sydney FC man, who operated in the 10, with man-of-the-match Callum Lang moving over to the right flank to accommodate him.

The travelling Fratton faithful showed their appreciation when the energetic attacker left the pitch in the 90th minute, to be replaced by Thomas Waddingham.

And Mousinho was also delighted with the youngster’s first competitive outing in English football.

He told The News: ‘First and foremost, Segs was a difference maker with the goal, he took his goal really, really well. It’s something we saw when we recruited him - joint-top scorer in the A-League last year.

‘That was the most important thing, but second behind that was his work-rate and his press, the way that he got about his business. He picked up some really good pockets in possession and was a constant threat.

‘We’ve had him since the first day of pre-season, which has helped. We’ve had some players who have come in recently and are not quite up to speed for various reasons. If you look at Minhyeok (Yang), for example, I thought he came on and looked really bright, but he has a stop-start pre-season with Spurs.

‘We got a huge amount out of Florian against Oxford, but he hasn’t played 60 minutes in a long, long time. He did well.

‘With Segs, we knew he was fit, we knew he was ready to go, so we had to start him. When we signed him, I thought he was first-team ready.

‘Hopefully he does develop and becomes a better player, but we signed him to affect the first-team.’

Fellow newcomers Florian Bianchini and John Swift were also handed a place in the starting XI, with Minhyeok Yang introduced in the 66th minute.

And all contributed to Pompey’s first opening-day win since a 1-0 victory at Fleetwood in August 2021, when Lee Brown netted.

The Blues are next in action on Tuesday night against Reading in the Carabao Cup, although it remains to be seen whether Segecic is involved after putting his heart and soul into the Kassam Stadium win.

Mousinho added: ‘Apart from the goal, his work-rate is superb and he runs and runs and he has the quality to back that up as well.

‘He’s just a constant threat in the middle of the park. He’s the sort of player that - as a six or even centre-half - I would have hated to play against.’