'One of his best performances': Why Portsmouth boss is remaining upbeat despite agonising centre-half set-backs
Regan Poole produced a timely interception to return to Pompey duty with one of his ‘best performances’ of the season.
That’s the verdict of John Mousinho, who was delighted with the former Manchester United man’s cameo off the bench in Saturday’s defeat of QPR.
Called into action in the 39th minute following Rob Atkinson’s calf injury, it represented Poole’s first competitive outing for two-and-a-half months.
Indeed, a combination of a hamstring issue and then calf strain had deprived the Blues of the talented defender’s services for 15 matches during his latest spell on the sidelines.
Yet Mousinho is convinced he glimpsed the Regan Poole of old as he helped steer Pompey to a crucial 2-1 success to strengthen their fight against relegation.
The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘Regan was really good, to be honest. It was his first game since Norwich and hadn’t any competitive action to come back with, yet he entered from the cold in a really physical game.
‘Regan was really good when he first came back against Burnley, then he was getting back into his stride towards the back end of that spell. Then he got injured against Norwich.
‘I thought QPR was one of his best performances. He didn’t make any mistakes, physically he was good. To come in and do that against a centre-forward (Michael Frey) who has been scoring goals and dominating was brilliant.
‘That was a really tough ask for Regan coming on as a substitute at that time. You’ve got to get up to the speed of the game very, very quickly - and we have all seen how quick the Championship is this year.
‘I watched QPR beat Derby 4-0 the other week, it was a brilliant performance from them, they have a brilliant front four, very, very threatening at all times, and for Regan to be able to do that was great.’
The full extent of injuries to Atkinson and Matthews are expected to become clear at today’s pre-match press conference, when Mousinho looks ahead to the trip to Luton.
However, Atkinson left the game limping following damage to his right calf, while Matthews was on crutches with a protective book on his right leg.
Regardless, Mousinho believes he still has options for those centre-half spots ahead facing Championship bottom club Luton on Saturday.
He added: ‘We’ll see how Hayden and Rob are, but we’ve got Regan coming back into the fold.
‘Marlon actually dropped in there on Saturday, we still have Ryley, and Connor Ogilvie can play there, so we’ve still got options.’