Portsmouth reeling from injury bombshell - but look at which two players are making timely returns

For very soon Tom Lowery and Jay Mingi will be fighting it out to feature alongside in-form Joe Morrell in the Blues’ starting XI.

According to John Mousinho, Pack is out for 4-6 weeks after a meniscus tear in his knee showed up on a scan.

Realistically, that means the Blues skipper is unlikely to be available for first-team duty until April, ruling him out for at least eight games.

Yet, with brighter news on the progress of Lowery (hamstring) and Mingi (knee), alternatives will soon be at Mousinho’s disposal.

He told The News: ‘We had news on the results of Marlon’s scan late in the week.

‘We’re now just making sure we try to get him back before the end of the season and that he recuperates properly. It’s one of those unfortunate things and I know we have an able squad to deputise.

‘He has a knee issue, a problem with the meniscus, we got the news late so I will go into it with the physio a bit later on and have a bit of a look.

‘Marlon is a really good rehaber and is desperate to get back involved, so we have a player hungry to return.’

Mousinho recently revealed Lowery is expected to return to full training on Monday, targeting a full week before first-team consideration.

Although the head coach believes the visit of Bolton to Fratton Park (February 28) is ‘maybe a step too far’ and his comeback is likely to be after.

As for Mingi, who injured his knee at the turn of the year, he is considered two weeks behind Lowery.

The former Charlton man has trained with a modified group over the last 12 days, but is not yet ready to be considered for full training.

Meanwhile, Pack failed a Tuesday afternoon fitness test on his knee issue after putting himself forward to face Burton.

Now he’s out for 4-6 weeks with the same problem.

Mousinho added: ‘Marlon took a fitness test before the scan results had come back. We were going off clinical and what Marlon actually thought he was capable of.

‘It turns out he’s got an injury which is going to keep him on for 4-6 weeks and it’s great we have someone in the dressing room that actually wants to play.

‘We have to protect him from himself sometimes. After we assessed him on Tuesday, we didn’t know the extent of the injury at that point.’