‘No chance he’d be in squad’: Portsmouth’s smiling menace and a Fratton fightback

Christian Saydee's spirit has been lauded for battering his way back into Pompey’s line-up amid their wealth of attacking options.

And Pompey boss John Mousinho has praised the Blues’ wrecking ball for underlining how players can quickly come into the heart of his side’s promotion bid.

Saydee was the hero against Oxford United on Saturday, with an outstanding contribution off the bench in the 2-1 win.

The 21-year-old grabbed the game’s decisive goal three minutes after entering the fray, and then followed that up with a goal-line clearance and several bulldozing moments.

After enduring a tough spell where Saydee didn’t get a minute’s action for five games and missed out on squads against Cambridge and Carlisle, the Londoner has maintained an upbeat and dedicated approach which Mousinho felt compelled to reward.

Mousinho said: ‘I’m thrilled for him. Christian found himself subbed off at half-time against Leyton Orient and not involved a huge amount over the past couple of months.

‘That can be a tough place for a footballer to be. If he’d gone under, sulked and not trained well there was no chance he’d be in the squad let alone bringing him on.

‘Hopefully it goes to show the rest of the squad we do notice things and we do value them. He has a huge part to play.’

Saydee’s performances and cameos have often made a difference for Pompey this season, but Saturday’s winner was his first goal in the league and third in all competitions.

Mousinho felt that was the final piece of the jigsaw for the summer arrival from Bournemouth.

He added: ‘I cast my mind back to the first day of the season. He came on for Tom Lowery at half-time, we changed shape and Christian was outstanding for 45 minutes against Bristol Rovers - and got man of the match on that day, too. Quite deservedly so.

‘He’s done that time and time again throughout the season. He’s had plenty of highs and a couple of times when he hasn’t performed so well.

‘The big thing missing from his game is goals, because he hadn’t got a league goal.

‘He put everything together against Oxford. He put the whole performance together, because he was really difficult to deal with in there.

‘We also asked him to go mark Cam Brannagan, which is a difficult thing to do in itself against one of the best midfielders in the league. He did that and off the back of it scored the goal - so we’re really pleased for him.’