Portsmouth boss defends contract decision after criticism for former Norwich City and Barnsley man

And the Blues boss has defended the decision to offer a new contract to the January arrival from Barnsley.

Pompey last week announced their retained list, with Kusini Yengi the headline departure amid five players leaving Fratton Park.

Yengi was joined by Anthony Scully, Tom Lowery, Alexander Milosevic and Cohen Bramall, who are all also on their way from PO4.

Killip is a wanted man at Pompey, however, with the 29-year-old offered a new contract after his short-term agreement comes to a close.

The former Norwich City man has slotted seamlessly into the goalkeeping department and first-team group as a whole, since stepping up from League One.

Killip has been operating as third choice with Nico Schmid shining, after the excellent Austrian usurped Will Norris last October. Jordan Archer has been established as back-up to Schmid and invariably named on the bench with homegrown Toby Steward gaining experience out loan, particularly impressing when with Crawley at the end of the season.

Killip made two outings at the end of the season, making a decent debut in the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday on the penultimate weekend of the season.

The former England C international then continued against Hull City at Fratton Park, where has some more uncomfortable moments on the final day. Killip also made some very decent stops against the Tigers, however, with Mousinho pointing out any issues were centred around his distribution.

The Pompey boss made it clear he’s happy with what the former Chelsea youngster has contributed to his squad in his time at Fratton Park.

And that is why Killip is a wanted man moving forward, as talks over his new terms continue.

Pompey man ‘excellent’ against Sheffield Wednesday

He said: ‘Ben was excellent against Sheffield Wednesday, but maybe came in for a bit of criticism after the Hull game.

‘I think that was more for his distribution than his actual goalkeeping. If you look at his actual goalkeeping performance, I don’t think there was anything he could’ve done about the goal.

‘Before the goal he made a really big save from a long throw, a really big and excellent save. He then made another really big save at 1-1 toward the back end of the game with no mistakes in between.

‘Distribution-wise he knows he could’ve done better, but with those two games we brought him in we were really comfortable with Ben - so we wanted to extend his stay at the football club.’

If Killip signs a new deal he will join Zak Swanson and Andre Dozzell in staying on at Pompey next season.

Pompey have taken up an option on Swanson’s agreement, which keeps the former Arsenal man at Fratton Park next season. He made 32 appearances this term, which is the right-back’s best return of his three campaigns at the club.

Dozzell’s stay continues with a new 12-month deal kicking in for the midfielder, as a result of his club retaining their place in the Championship. Additionally, Pompey also have 24 senior players contracted for next season, with six loan players returning to their parent clubs.

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