Portsmouth Wembley mission boosted as Ronan Curtis launches heartening training return

Thankfully the right ankle was the source of such immense discomfort.

The troubled finger on his left hand was unscathed, a heartening sight for those scrutinising the Irishman’s training comeback.

The pain generated by Curtis’ ankle passed, soon able to partake in repeatedly striking the ball high into the arms of Craig MacGillivray in an impromptu post-training moment.

Attention then focused on the injury which, for the past fortnight, has threatened to deprive the 22-year-old of Wembley involvement.

At Roko this morning, the winger was able to compete in a game situation, occasionally bursting into fury when the ball failed to travel in his direction.

Nonetheless, there was no adverse reaction to his injured finger – and Kenny Jackett was undeniably encouraged.

He said: ‘These are early days, I don’t have to make that call today. It’s Wednesday lunchtime – and we have until Sunday.

‘I was always going to watch him over three or four days, see how he is and, most importantly, see how he trains.

‘I was pleased with what he did this morning and he seemed reasonably comfortable with it.

‘We’ll see, but Friday or Saturday will be when the decision is made as to whether to start him or put him on the bench.

‘It would be great if he was available – and the signs were good this morning.

‘Ronan is Ronan, he gets involved in training, he’s not shy and physically works hard, it was good to see him getting back into the thick of it.

‘For him, I’m sure he’s missed out. He wanted to train and get back out there with the players.’

Curtis played with his finger positioned inside a plastic tip.

His stitches had been removed on Tuesday morning, allowing the training return he had craved.

In terms of Wembley, the former Derry man will weigh up wearing gloves for protection, with an injection as a last resort.

Certainly he was his normal energetic and committed self as he stepped back out on the training pitch following two weeks away.

Jackett added: ‘There are two issues here, one is putting up with any pain – and that’s okay.

‘The other is the risk of infection, which is the serious one.

‘We have looked at his finger the last couple of days and potential infection is the biggest thing. A little bit of pain is okay, he will be fine with that.

‘We have to make sure we do things right medically and today was a good start, we will see over the next few days how he is.’