'We'll keep on tackling and being committed - we're Portsmouth': Blues boss defiant after cruel triple injury blow

John Mousinho reflected on his latest body blow and insisted: We'll keep on tackling and being committed - we’re Pompey.

The League One leaders are reeling after learning Joe Morrell, Tom McIntyre and Terry Devlin will not play again this season.

Morrell underwent surgery on Wednesday after a piece of cartilage broke off in his knee against Oxford United and is expected to be out for up to five months.

Devlin, who collected a shoulder ligament injury in the same game, also requires surgery and could be missing for 12 weeks.

Finally, McIntyre fractured his left ankle in the challenge on Mitch Pinnock which saw him sent off, before the red card was later rescinded. It is anticipated he will be out for 12-14 weeks.

With Josh Dockerill, Regan Poole and Alex Robertson already ruled out of the remainder of their promotion push, it is cruel luck on Pompey.

Mousinho told The News: ‘I’m sure every Pompey fan watching the last two games will know there’s not a huge amount we could do about these injuries.

‘Joe had no-one around him at the time of his, while Tom and Terry’s happened in tackles. Unless you want players to pull out of challenges, which we definitely don’t want here at Pompey, then there’s not much we can do.

‘If we had picked up a huge amount of muscular injuries then we’d look at training load, how much players are doing in games, and what they're following that up in the week.

‘But, at the minute, the ones we’ve had over the last week pretty much sum up where our luck has been this season in terms of injuries.

‘We can ask the players not to run, to not challenge, to not be fully committed playing for Pompey - yet obviously that’s the complete opposite of what we are asking them to do.

‘We want players to go into challenges honestly, to try to win the ball, we want them to run, to sprint, we want them to be fully committed. Unfortunately, if we pick up injuries doing that, then we pick up injuries doing that.

‘I’ve seen injury lists quite a lot, but normally they are 11-12 deep with maybe 8-9 of them back in training within the next few weeks, after minor calf tears and muscular injuries.

‘At Pompey, I have very, very rarely seen the amount of long-term injuries we’ve had, mostly through contact. It is pretty unprecedented.

‘Take Marlon as a good example, with Charlie Wyke getting a red card for that challenge. All of a sudden the luck has flipped even worse for us - we’re now injuring ourselves in challenges that result in red cards for us.

'At some point, hopefully, our luck will change.'

Regardless of the latest set-back, the Blues remain four points clear at the top of the table with 15 matches remaining.

And Mousinho is refusing to let gloom settle over their camp with an exciting end to the campaign in prospect.

He added: ‘We hear the news, we get a bit disappointed and then we move on.

‘There are two ways to deal with it. Get dispirited and think “That’s us done” - or we can do what we have done all season.

‘That is when we pick up these injuries, we recognise how significant they are and recognise what a blow it is for us as a squad and get on with it.’