Why new playing position could be answer to Portsmouth midfielder's footballing future amid loan frustration

The 19-year-old was handed his first appearance of the campaign at Leyton Orient in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy on Tuesday night.

Starting in the centre of midfield, in the ensuing reshuffle after Sean Raggett’s 19th-minute dismissal he was utilised at right wing-back and then right-back.

Jewitt-White, who is currently on loan with the Hawks, was heavily involved in Christian Saydee’s first-half opener and continued to impress.

And Pompey’s head coach thinks the temporary role could actually bring the best out of the Wales under-19 international.

Mousinho told The News: ‘I thought in the middle of the park it was a difficult one for Harry at the start of the game.

‘He’s hardly played a minute for Havant & Waterlooville and come into a competitive League One game with players across the pitch who have played plenty of minutes in the Football League this season.

‘Harry’s now played a couple of times at right-back and looked a lot more comfortable there. He was there in the pre-season game against Crawley and was very good that day.

‘I don’t know if that’s maybe a long-term positional switch for Harry, but certainly it seemed to suit him in terms of running and coming onto the ball.

‘He broke down the right-hand side in the first half a couple of times and had that involvement in the goal. Once he settled into that spot, I thought he played well.

‘Harry’s still on loan at Havant, from our point of view it would be great if he could get more minutes and he has to earn that, but maybe Havant can see we trust him to compete at this level.

‘At the minute it’s out of our control, he’s on loan at Havant until January and hopefully he gets more minutes, although has to earn that.’

Jewitt-White was deprived of the opportunity for a maiden Pompey goal by team-mate Christian Saydee.

In the 34th minute, Gavin Whyte’s cross from the right was heading into the youngster’s path for a comfortable first-post finish, only for Saydee to get in the way.

He intercepted the pass before swivelling and firing a wild left-footed shot well off target, instead of leaving it to Jewitt-White.

Mousinho added: ’That was one of those things, it’s good Harry is getting into the box, which is a real positive.

‘When we did score, we watched the first goal back at half-time and won the second ball because we pressed them high, then broke down the right with Harry and had bodies in the box.’