Cruel injury set-back for Portsmouth man after sparkling cameo on long-awaited comeback
The Pompey youngster as suffered an injury set-back one game into his Havant & Waterlooville return
Reuben Swann’s encouraging Hawks loan has been grounded after another injury set-back.
Having resisted the urge to send out the 19-year-old in favour of training with Pompey’s first-team, John Mousinho finally relented earlier this month and gave the green light for a Westleigh Park return.
Indeed, it turned out to be the perfect second debut for the midfielder with the club where he spent the entirety of last season.
However, he hasn’t featured for the struggling Southern League Southern Central club since, having collected a knee injury in training shortly afterwards, sidelining him for the last three matches.
Portsmouth boss: We thought that was the most beneficial thing for Reuben
Mousinho told The News: ‘Reuben took a knock in training for them, it was contact, and his knee swelled up.
‘He’s there for a month and had that impact early on, so hopefully will be there for a bit longer. It’s just a knock, we’re waiting for the swelling to subside.
‘We weren't sure whether to send him on loan because he was having a really good spell of training here, which we thought was needed.
‘However, one club we would have said yes to was Havant because he’s going to get some minutes, but also we could do that hybrid where he actually trains here for the majority of the week.
‘We thought that was the most beneficial thing for Reuben. We want him to progress in this environment, but get games as well. So that’s why we decided to let him out to Havant.’
Arrived from AFC Sudbury in June 2024
Swann arrived at Fratton Park from AFC Sudbury in June 2024 for an undisclosed fee, yet is viewed as a long-term development project and has still to make his first-team debut.
He made 43 appearances on loan at Westleigh Park last season, totalling seven goals and posting six assists, albeit mainly as a substitute, which frustrated the youngster.
However, having worked hard on his fitness ahead of returning for Pompey pre-season training in June, he damaged his hip flexor while on their Slovakian training camp, devastating his summer.
Swann was involved in just one pre-season friendly, ironically against the Hawks in July, as the injury hampered his participation for a number of weeks.
That recovery, coupled with Mousinho’s desire for the Blues coaches to develop the youngster rather than him training at another club on loan, ensured it wasn’t until this month before he was allowed out.
That meant Tiverton represented his first competitive outing since April, when he featured as an 89th-minute substitute in a 2-0 win over Wimborne Town on the final day of the season.
Yet Mousinho is convinced the Hawks is the ideal loan arrangement for Swann at this moment in time - when available.
Pompey’s head coach added: ‘If you go away from dealing with Havant and Northy, probably not as much flexibility in the loan, so we would have him training her and playing at Havant.’
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