'We don't give out Portsmouth games willy-nilly': Why the time was right to blood Blues' latest Academy starlet

For Leyton Orient would signal an entrance as Pompey’s newest first-teamer – at the age of 17 years, six months and 26 days.

And John Mousinho is adamant the breakthrough was thoroughly deserved, having impressed Academy management this term.

The second-year scholar and former Crystal Palace under-16 striker was handed the final five minutes off the bench in Tuesday night’s 2-1 Bristol Street Motors Trophy victory.

It represents encouraging progress for Folarin, who has recently received a call-up from the Republic of Ireland under-18s.

And, for Mousinho, the first-team introduction was fully warranted.

He told The News: ‘Christian Saydee was tired, he had put in such a shift, probably we’d have liked to have brought him off a bit sooner because of some of the injuries he’s had in the past.

‘But it was brilliant to give another one of the young lads a debut in the competition. We wanted to get Sam’s energy onto the pitch, we wanted to get him running around.

‘Nobody can ever take that away from Sam, he’s played for Pompey and pulled on the shirt, so it should be a very, very proud moment for him, his family and the Academy.

‘What I always do when we’re looking at these games is speak to the Academy and ask who the best performers have been. Thankfully they had a game last weekend to put that Eastleigh match to bed and the answer was ‘These are the three young lads most deserving of a call-up’.

‘It just so happened that, when we were trying to shuffle the team around on Sunday afternoon on the way back from Chesterfield, we were actually looking for three spots as well.

‘We don’t want to hand out appearances willy-nilly, they have to earn them – and the Academy said Sam has earned it.

‘I watched him at Eastleigh and he was also one of those lads that played pretty well in pre-season, sometimes we had Destiny Ojo and Sam up top causing sides a few problems.

‘He did well when he came on at Leyton Orient and gave some bright sparks.’

While Folarin was handed game time, fellow second-year scholars Mitch Aston and Koby Mottoh were unused as substitutes.

The pair have already featured in the EFL Trophy this season, yet circumstances and Pompey playing with 10 men meant they weren’t called upon at Brisbane Road.

Mousinho added: The game was tight, unfortunately we couldn't get the other young lads on.

‘We wanted to make the right subs at the right time, hence we brought Joe Rafferty on, someone with a huge amount of expense, to solidify the game.’