Portsmouth striker suffers frustrating injury 'set-back' as long-awaited comeback pushed back
Thomas Waddingham has been sidelined for more than five months due to a quad injury.
John Mousinho has revealed Thomas Waddingham has suffered a couple of minor set-backs on his quad issue.
And the Pompey boss is now unsure when the striker could return as his injury frustrations continue.
The 20-year-year-old has been limited to just five appearances in all competitions this term for the Blues - of which four have come from the bench in the Championship.
The blow represented the latest set-back of his Fratton Park career, which saw him suffer groin and hamstring problems during the second-half of the 2024-25 campaign.
There has been light at the end of the tunnel in recent weeks for the January 2025 arrival, with Mousinho at the start of the month initially pencilling last Saturday’s defeat to Sheffield United as his comeback date.
His return was later pushed back to this weekend’s trip to Millwall, with Pompey set to face the promotion-hopefuls at The Den.
Frustrating injury set-back for Pompey striker
But Mousinho has since revealed Waddingham has suffered a couple of fresh ‘set-backs’ as his wait for a return continues.
And the head coach has admitted the Blues a new comeback date has yet to be pencilled in after taking the frontman ‘off the gas’ in training.
He told The News: ‘(He’s) just feeling the quad that he’d originally injured.
‘Tom’s had a couple of set-backs so we’re just being patient with Tom just because of the amount of time he’s been out.
‘We’ve just come off the gas slightly with him.
‘We were hoping again for this week (against Millwall) but I haven’t got a definite timescale on that so we’ll just wait and see.’
Pompey injury latest ahead of Millwall
Pompey still have a lengthy injury list, with 13 members of Mousinho’s squad sidelined for Tuesday’s 3-1 triumph over Charlton Athletic.
Adrian Segecic was fit enough to be named on the bench at The Valley after he sustained a dead leg against Sheffield United over the weekend.
Andre Dozzell continues to be sidelined due to an ankle problem picked up late in the defeat to The Blades and is set for a scan later this week.
Josh Knight (back), Hayden Matthews (ankle), Conor Shaughnessy (quad), Aji Alese (quad), Conor Chaplin (groin), Josh Murphy (foot), Mark Kosznovszky (knee), Franco Umeh (hamstring), Keshi Anderson (hamstring) and Florian Bianchini (knee) continued to be ruled out due to injury.