‘Devastating’ - Neil Allen’s reaction as Portsmouth suffer double defensive blow
The injuries to Rob Atkinson and Hayden Matthews is ‘devastating’ to Pompey’s season.
That’s the reaction from The News’ chief sports writer Neil Allen, who has labelled the double defensive blow as a massive concern for John Mousinho.
The Blues announced after Saturday’s disappointing 1-0 defeat to Luton that Atkinson will be sidelined for 6-8 weeks with a calf injury, while Matthews will be sidelined for the remainder of the season due to an ankle issue which will require surgery.
The latter becomes the fifth player to be ruled out for the rest of the season - joining Paddy Lane, Jacob Farrell, Ibane Bowat, Callum Lang on the sidelines.
With the pair injured alongside fellow centre-back Conor Shaughnessy, Marlon Pack returned to the backline to partner Regan Poole for Saturday’s loss at Kenilworth Road, while Ryley Towler was named on the bench.
And Allen believes the long-term injuries to Shaughnessy, Atkinson and Matthews will be ‘devastating’ to Pompey’s Championship season.
Speaking after the loss to Luton, The News’ chief sports writer said: ‘Of course, we’ve had the bombshell news from John Mousinho after the game that Hayden Matthews is out for the season with an ankle injury, which requires an operation. Rob Atkinson has a calf injury, which is 6-8 weeks apparently.
‘Him and Shaughnessy coming back for only one or two games is devastating. A few weeks ago Pompey had Shaughnessy and Atkinson as the centre-halves and really were superb.
‘Finally for the first time all season, they had their strongest centre-half pairing and then bang they’re both out within a few weeks of each other long-term. Atkinson’s is long-term in terms of the season really. It’s just absolutely devastating.
‘And then obviously Matthews is now injured too. He’d been playing so well - a breath of fresh air coming to the football club. He picked up so well and everyone was really impressed with him. Again on Saturday (against QPR) he was really impressive.
‘It was a freak injury - it was no one’s fault - he made a good tackle and the opposition player fell on top of him and no one can do anything about that. That’s not about the training ground or tired legs, that’s what happened and it’s devastating.
‘Now you’re scratching around. Regan Poole’s alright but then it’s who plays alongside him? Marlon Pack again or Ryley Towler? That’s the issue Pompey are left with. I know a lot of people have asked me about Towler. We ask about him every week and why Mousinho picks Pack and Mousinho does explain that very well. He likes Marlon’s physicality, Marlon’s comfort on the ball, his experience and that’s why he plays in front of Towler.
‘Towler has played a few games this season, struggled on occasions and it’s a difficult league. Ryley barely played in League One and suddenly he has to be a regular in the Championship - it’s a big leap, that’s one of the reasons why.
‘It’s just devastating that Pompey again have lost two or three centre-halves and suddenly poor Marlon Pack has to go into defence and he gets a bit of stick. Today (against Luton), the goal was on the counter attack. Awful free-kick by Murphy, the opposition break and Marlon runs from one box to the other to get back and then slides the ball against his own post and it ricochets and they score and he gets criticised.
‘But that's the issue with Pompey at the moment because they’re so short at centre-half just when it was going so well with a proper centre-half pairing. Luton had to win today and they got the win.’