Portsmouth boss allays fears over concerning Kusini Yengi injury absence at Leeds

The Australian striker was a surprise absence at Elland Road, with Elias Sorensen deputising for his Blues debut.

Indeed, the Dane netted in the 23rd minute as Mousinho’s men claimed a 3-3 draw on their Championship return in an exhilarating match.

As for Yengi, his groin problem is also expected to keep him out of Tuesday night’s encounter with Millwall in the Carabao Cup.

But Pompey’s head coach is confident the 25-year-old will be back for the visit of Luton to Fratton Park next Saturday.

He told The News: ‘Kas just picked up a slight groin strain. I don’t think he will be right for Tuesday, we’re going to try to get him back for Saturday.

‘We knew we needed players who could run at Leeds and part of that was around that team selection of having Elias and Callum as the nine and the 10.

‘Having a not-100-per-cent Kas would have been no good to us, so we left him at home, but there’s nothing serious.

‘He’s okay, though, hopefully we’ll see him back on Saturday.’

Pompey’s attacking resources are already weakened by Colby Bishop’s absence for the foreseeable future as he undergoes a heart operation.

As a consequence, Christian Saydee helped Sorensen with centre-forward duties at Elland Road, replacing the Dane in the 63rd minute.

The former Bournemouth man also won a stoppage-time penalty after being grabbed around the neck by right-back Jayden Bogle, which was converted by Callum Lang.

However, Brenden Aaronson levelled to secure a 3-3 draw just three minutes later - in the 96th minute.

Also missing for Pompey at Elland Road were Josh Murphy (ankle), Tom McIntyre (hamstring), Jacob Farrell (knee) and Regan Poole (knee).

Yengi netted 13 times during his maiden season in English football as the Blues claimed the League One title last season.

He featured five times in pre-season, scoring in a 3-1 win at Gosport, and most recently featured for 71 minutes in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Charlton in their final friendly.