'Watch this space': Portsmouth boss on why Fratton faithful shouldn't read too much into centre-half selection against Bristol City

That’s the message from John Mousinho, who insists Saturday’s selection of Regan Poole and Conor Shaughnessy doesn’t indicate they have won the battle.

The duo operated in the centre of defence for the 1-0 defeat to the Championship side in the Blues’ final warm-up.

Meanwhile, rivals Sean Raggett and Ryley Towler were introduced off the bench in the 77th minute.

According to Mousinho, however, that line-up was dictated by the necessity to give players match minutes, rather than reflecting starting preferences.

And he is adamant the positions are still up for grabs ahead of Bristol Rovers’ visit (August 5).

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Regan definitely needed the minutes having come late into the fold in pre-season – and the same applies for Conor.

‘Sean, who played 72 minutes against Crawley, has had plenty of time on the pitch in pre-season, while Ryley played 61 minutes in that game and then 90 minutes at Wimbledon.

‘Ultimately, we know everything we need to know about Sean and Ryley, so it’s much more about seeing how those other two perform out there in that sort of intense pressure.

‘We have four centre-half halves that can compete for those spots. All the positions are similar, but certainly those two positions are wide open for all four of them.

‘I thought Conor and Regan did pretty well. There was a real challenge laid down to Conor playing on the left-hand side and playing out on that left foot.

‘And it was a real challenge for Regan, because getting rid of some of that ring rustiness is really important.

‘Overall they defended really well, tried to play from the back, and produced two good performances.’

Days earlier, Towler had completed the full 90 minutes at AFC Wimbledon, although Raggett didn’t feature in that match through a back spasm.

Mousinho added: ‘This weekend may be the same starting line-up, but it might be different.

‘There's good competition in the squad and I thought we finished the game (Bristol City) strongly with a very different side, so we’ll take that into consideration as well.

‘Watch this space in terms of the starting XI.’