Why patience required over blooding Portsmouth new recruit and former Coventry forward Jordy Hiwula

Sunderland’s home would also represent his maiden Pompey participation, albeit as an unused substitute.

More than 11 months separated the occasions.

A telling statistic which demonstrates why the Fratton faithful must retain patience, despite the understandable urge to see their latest recruit in action.

Hiwula has bolstered the Blues’ threadbare striking options, while adding the welcome attribute of blistering pace to the ranks.

However, the 26-year-old hasn’t featured competitively in the year 2020.

What’s more, until his Thursday arrival last week, he hadn’t trained with a club squad since March time.

Hardly a compelling argument for throwing Hiwula in for a Stadium of Light start, as some were advocating ahead of Saturday’s encounter.

Kenny Jackett is an easy target these days, yet not granting Hiwula his first start since December 2019 is dud ammunition.

The former Manchester City man may prove to be an excellent signing, certainly many have been calling for a pacy striker to be added to the squad.

Yet clearly he requires time on the training ground to boost fitness before even considered for a Pompey starting spot.

In terms of matches, Hiwula’s last League One start was more than a year ago, when he was withdrawn at half-time during the Sky Blues’ 2-1 win over Fleetwood on October 23, 2019.

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His next – and final – league outing for Coventry was a month later, as a 74th-minute substitute at Sunderland.

That November 23, 2019, encounter ended in a 1-1 draw, after the Black Cats’ Benji Kimpioka levelled in the 90th minute in front of a 29,809 crowd.

Hiwula was then granted 90 minutes in a Leasing.com Trophy 2-0 defeat at MK Dons on December 3 – signalling his last competitive game.

During 2020, he was named in five Coventry squads, yet was unused from the bench on each occasion.

Towards the end of his time with Mark Robins’ men, Hiwula was even overlooked for under-23 duty.

As for training, lockdown was applied to football in early March – with Coventry not required to feature again in the 2019-20 campaign.

Crowned champions of a curtailed League One season, their training sessions were similarly aborted early.

The Sky Blues officially announced his release on June 12, with Hiwula training on his own ever since.

Last week, however, he was back in a club environment, training with Pompey on Thursday and Friday.

There will be opportunities, of course. Sharp bursts from the bench when required can add an extra dimension to the Blues’ play.

Yet it may be a good few weeks before we see Hiwula equipped for a starting place in Pompey’s first-team squad.

Certainly not Sunderland away for a first competitive appearance in 327 days.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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