'There are things more important than football': Portsmouth boss explains ex-Arsenal man's surprise absence from Barnsley victory

John Mousinho has explained why Zak Swanson didn't feature in the 3-2 win at Barnsley. Picture: Jason Brown/ProSportsImages

The former Arsenal defender served up a man-of-the-match display in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Derby.

However, he wasn’t included in Pompey’s 18-man squad at Barnsley on Tuesday night.

Instead Joe Rafferty returned from a three-match suspension to slot in at right-back for the impressive 3-2 triumph.

And Mousinho has revealed why Swanson wasn’t involved as the Blues moved to the top of League One.

He told The News: ‘Zak had a family issue, unfortunately, and there are probably things more important than football.

‘Zak was excellent on Saturday and never would have missed out on the squad if he had been available.

‘He stayed at home and I will speak to him and see how he feels.’

Meanwhile, Connor Ogilvie was forced off in the 68th minute at Oakwell with a groin problem, to be replaced by Jack Sparkes.

Pompey were already without Sean Raggett (foot) and Christian Saydee (hamstring) for the long trip to South Yorkshire.

And all will be assessed with action returning to Fratton Park on Saturday for Lincoln’s visit.

Mousinho added: ‘Connor just felt his groin slightly in the second half. He hardly ever gets any muscular injuries, luckily we have an able deputy in Sparksie.

‘It’s a bit of an unfortunate one, although I don’t think it’s too bad. We’ll have to assess it.

‘Sean (Raggett) actually felt his foot in the warm-up on Saturday and wasn’t able to come off the bench at Derby, so was touch and go for Barnsley.

‘He said he was willing to do 10 minutes at the end at Oakwell if needed, which would have been good, but I didn’t want to risk it. He was definitely making sure he put the team ahead of himself.

‘As for Christian, he was about 50 per cent on Saturday and we just don’t want to risk him at this stage with the amount of football we have ahead of us.

‘It was a tough decision because of the workload we’ve put into Colby over the last couple of games and the fact he’s been really struggling with a virus over the last week.’