'I wouldn't be too optimistic' - Portsmouth boss delivers honest truth about injured duo's seasons after early withdrawals against Leicester

John Mousinho has admitted the season is most likely over for injured duo Terry Devlin and Keshi Anderson.

Both players limped off in the opening 15 minutes of Saturday’s 1-0 win against Leicester City after picking up hamstring injuries.

Anderson, who was only four games into his comeback after a 10-match spell out with the exact same injury, had to be replaced by Adrian Segecic after only seven minutes of the Fratton Park fixture.

And his heading to the dressing room was quickly followed just eight minutes later by Devlin, who pulled up after attempting to clear the danger on the edge of the Blues’ penalty area.

The recently-crowned Pompey player of the year and players’ player of the season had to be replaced by eventual match-winner Ibane Bowat on the quarter-of-an-hour mark.

His substitution represented the first time the Northern Ireland international had missed any Blues action since his 83rd-minute withdrawal against Watford back on January 21 - some 17 games ago.

That demonstrates further Devlin’s importance to the team, with his appearance against the Foxes his 29th league start of the campaign for the Blues, whose victory against Leicester more or less guarantees they’ve beaten the drop back down to League One.

But with three games still to be fulfilled before the season draws to a close, Mousinho is doubtful whether both Devlin and Anderson will feature against Coventry, Stoke or Birmingham.

When asked for an update on the duo after Saturday’s win against Gary Rowett’s side, the Pompey boss said: ‘I wouldn't be too optimistic for the rest of the season.

‘When you're two weeks to go, yeah, very, very difficult to turn that around.’

Anderson, who has featured six times for the Blues since arriving in Janaury on a free transfer from Birmingham City, will now need to concentrate on returning fit for pre-season.

He’ll no doubt be an important player for the Blues after signing an 18-month contract when he moved to Fratton Park three months ago.

The same applies for Devlin. However, after being the subject of a £2m bid from Wrexham over the winter, there’s some who believe Pompey could cash in on the popular 22-year-old in the summer to help finance another summer recruitment drive.

For your next Pompey read: Pompey 1-0 Leicester: Neil Allen’s player ratings