Why it hasn't worked out at Portsmouth for Paul Downing since his arrival from Blackburn so far

The defender remains firmly out of favour after being omitted from a fourth successive squad for Tuesday night’s 2-0 victory at Lincoln.

Signing a three-year deal when joining on a free transfer from Blackburn in the summer, Downing was earmarked as first-choice centre-back and started the opening six League One games of the season.

Downing hasn't featured in the third tier since a 2-2 draw against Burton on September 17, however.

He’s dropped to fourth in the pecking order following Jack Whatmough’s comeback from his long-term knee injury.

Christian Burgess and Sean Raggett have established themselves as Kenny Jacket's favoured centre-half pairing.

Having won League One promotion with Blackburn in 2018 and played a prominent role during Doncaster's failed play-off bid last campaign, Downing’s lack of involvement at PO4 would have been predicted by few after he arrived.

Gallen feels Pompey's stuttering start to the season resulted in the 28-year-old losing confidence.

And with Jackett’s men in resurgent form after Downing dropped out of the line-up, he’s been unable to force his way back.

Assistant boss Gallen said: ‘Things can change very quickly, but so far it just hasn’t worked out.

‘At the start of the season, things such as the Coventry game and the way it went that night – Paul was playing in that game – there was a time when it clearly wasn't going for us.

'We weren't getting the results everyone expected and the crowd were pretty unsure about lots of things.

'I sort of felt it resulted in Paul just losing some confidence, really. A lot of players lost confidence during that time.

'The games were very close and Paul lost a bit of confidence on the back of that. Paul is very experienced and been involved in promotion from this league before with Blackburn when they went up.

'Last season Doncaster came close to getting into the play-offs and he had a very good spell for them.

‘I think, like a lot of the new signings, it's one thing playing for their previous clubs – whether it was Doncaster, Burton or wherever else we signed players from – but it’s another thing coming to play here.

‘The expectancy, the crowd and size of the crowd has meant it’s taken certain players a little while to bed in and find their way.

‘John Marquis eluded to that and it resulted in Paul being out of the team and he’s been unable to get back into the team.

‘Confidence has grown and we’ve got some results.’

The door remains ajar for Downing to depart before the January transfer window closes at 11pm on Friday.

But Gallen insists the Fratton faithful have yet to see the best of the ex-Walsall man.

He added: ‘Paul will be disappointed Jack has come in and, pecking order-wise, is ahead of him. Albeit, Paul’s not silly and understands where this all is.

‘He needs to keep fit, stay fit and wait for a chance or maybe there’s a chance if he feels he can go somewhere else.

‘I think with Paul, he’ll be thinking he has to play games because he is 28. But we are open for Paul to be playing for us and we don’t think anyone has seen the best of him yet.’