Portsmouth keeper Alex Bass offered 'little protection' as Southend debut is cruelly cut short

It’s believed the 22-year-old suffered a leg injury in his maiden Shrimpers appearance – just hours after arriving on a seven-day emergency loan as cover for injured Roots Hall No1 Mark Oxley.

A planned scan will reveal the true extent of the issue.

At this moment it’s not clear whether the problem is related to the fracture Bass suffered in a collision with Blues team-mate Haji Mnoga in training at the start of January.

That prompted Pompey to bring in Exeter keeper Lewis Ward as Kenny Jackett required experienced cover for first-choice keeper Craig MacGillivray.

Bass’ move to Southend, therefore, came as a surprise.

And while he impressed Molesley during his 45-minute outing, the Shrimpers boss rued his treatment at the hands of Salford.

He told Southend’s website: ‘We did very well getting a goalkeeper in with such late notice of the quality of Alex Bass.

‘Then he’s been upended twice (during his debut) and didn’t receive any protection which we felt he deserved.

‘Ultimately, it’s culminated in him coming off.

‘We’ll have to find out how Alex is because I thought that was a great debut for him.

‘He was very assured and calm, claimed crosses and was looking very comfortable in there.

‘There’ll be a scan and we’ll see how that is.’

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