The harsh reality for senior Portsmouth trio dealt Carlisle United blow

And the Blues boss feels those left in the stand this weekend will be justified in feeling harshly treated.

Mousinho’s men return to action at Fratton Park against the League One new boys bolstered by the return of a number of players, after the squad was severely stretched against Port Vale.

Regan Poole and Alex Robertson return from suspension while Connor Ogilvie is back after injury, meaning the head coach faces some big calls. With no one letting the team down amid some flying early-season form, Mousinho admitted whoever misses out is entitled to feel hard done by.

He said: ‘We’ve had games over the past six and seven weeks where we’ve filled the bench and not had to leave players out.

‘We’ve had situations where people who haven’t played a single minute in the league have come in and done really well. That’s the way we’ve tried to build the squad.

‘When you do build a squad which can cope with the ups and downs of the football season, unfortunately for the players but fortunately for me and everyone at the football club there are situations at the weekend and Tuesdays when we have to leave people out of the squad.

‘They don’t deserve to be left out of the squad at the moment and I can’t imagine anyone left out of the squad this weekend deserves it. We haven’t decided who it will be yet, but whoever it is going to be it’s going to be extremely harsh.’

Mousinho is set to take those left out of his 18-man squad aside ahead of Saturday’s game, as his men aim to make it 24 league games unbeaten at Fratton Park.

He added ‘Sometimes when players are left out of the squad you speak them, and my door is always open to speak to them. You speak to them the first time, but don’t want to keep telling them they’re out of the squad every weekend, because it becomes a bit monotonous for them.

‘But they are welcome to speak to me, to see what they have to do or change to get into squads. All the lads do that and do it well, I really appreciate it. For the ones who miss out this weekend it will be a pretty harsh one, so I will definitely speak to them.’