Portsmouth vs Bristol Rovers injury latest as six ruled out and two doubts for League One clash

Portsmouth are now counting down the hours and minutes until their League One opener with Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

Pompey narrowly missed out on a playoff spot last season, and they will want to go one better in John Mousinho’s first full season in charge, though League One will be as difficult as ever. They will want to start strong, but Bristol Rovers will be a tough nut to crack as they embark upon another season under Joey Barton.

Portsmouth are not helped by injury issues, either, with Josh Dockerill out with a long-term injury, while Denver Hume is out with a groin issue.

Meanwhile, Colby Bishop is a big concern with a small issue, with Mousinho recently providing an update by saying: “Colby’s ankle is absolutely fine, we are managing him through, just making sure.

“He’s struggled with a couple of injuries in this pre-season, so we’re making sure we’re giving him the best possible chance to recover so he can be on that pitch. We need to see what the reaction is to Bristol City. There was a reaction after Crawley, which meant he didn’t face AFC Wimbledon, so we’ll just see the outcome.

“I can’t recall Colby missing too many training sessions between games last season, I thought he was an absolute warrior in terms of what he put into the matches. He’s such a physical battle out there. That’s one of the reasons we want to manage Colby, making sure he’s fit for Saturday (against Bristol Rovers). Hopefully he is. We have brought in two other centre-forwards to compete for that spot and I think we have excellent cover.”

As for Rovers, they will be without Jordan Rossiter, who has been out since December, as well as new signing George Friend. Luke McCormick and James Gibbon are also sidelined. Josh Grant is listed as a doubt, while Lewis Gordon and Ryan Jones are back in contention.