'The best he's played for me': Portsmouth boss hails ex-Cardiff and Bristol City man after sparkling comeback

Marlon Pack is producing his best football of John Mousinho’s tenure.

That’s the verdict of the Blues’ head coach as he approaches 12 months in charge at Fratton Park following his January 2023 appointment.

Pack has been sidelined by a knee operation and then ankle ligament damage since Mousinho replaced Danny Cowley, the man who brought the Buckland lad back to the south coast.

However, Pompey’s boss has pinpointed his skipper’s sparkling post-November form since returning from his most recent injury.

It’s impressive consistency which earned the 32-year-old a nomination for Sky Bet League Player of the Month for December.

And Mousinho has been singing the praises of his midfield driving force,

He told The News: ‘His form, particularly since coming back from injury, has been outstanding. This is the best he has played for me since I came to this club.

‘After getting himself properly match-fit at the start of the season, Marlon was one of our outstanding players going into that Wigan game when he got injured. I remember at the time the questions coming - internally as well - what will we do without Marlon because he’s such a big miss?

‘Players stepped up to the plate and performed really well in the meantime, but since he’s come back he has been excellent, playing every minute of every game.

‘At 32, he played those four matches in nine days at Christmas and there wasn’t a single time during those when I thought he looked like he needed a rest because of his age.

‘Physically he is right up there, he keeps himself in fantastic condition and played 620 senior games, so you know he’s done all the right things outside of football.

‘We don’t look at him as a 32-year-old, we look at him as a player who has performed brilliantly well, is club captain and really come into his own - and we are absolutely thrilled with him.

‘Marlon has never let us down, if you look at the form last season, he started pretty well for me, scoring against Exeter, then came out of the side pretty quickly after that because of his knee injury.

‘After his operation, he returned and took a few games to get going but, towards the back end of the season, particularly the Derby and Wycombe games, he started to show his best football.

‘He performed pretty well at the start of the term, only coming out of the side because of that injury, when, at that stage, I thought he was one of our better performers.

‘And for the last 9-10 games since he’s been involved after the injury, I think he’s been superb.’

Mousinho named Pack as captain for his first match in charge of the Blues against Exeter.

The pair had been Wycombe team-mates 13 years earlier, when the Buckland midfielder was aged 18 and on a two-and-a-half month loan from Pompey.

Mousinho added: ‘I made Marlon captain for Exeter. It was the first decision in earnest I had to make and seemed like a very natural thing to do.

‘Not just because he’s got such deep-rooted connections in Portsmouth, but the fact is he is a superb leader.’