Portsmouth boss lifts lid on surprise absence of Blues quartet from stunning Coventry victory
John Mousinho has explained the reasons behind the surprise absence of four players against Coventry.
Regan Poole, Elias Sorensen and Abdoulaye Kamara had previously been on the bench at Derby, but were no longer in the 20-man squad on Saturday.
In addition, Harvey Blair once again missed out as the underwhelming start to his Fratton Park career continues.
However, according to the Blues’ head coach, none were omitted for selection reasons, with injury and illness depriving him of their services.
And in the case of Poole, his hamstring issue has ruled him out of the festive period, with a return pencilled in for January.
Mousinho told The News: ‘Regan wasn’t able to train this week, so we decided to scan him on Friday,
‘It’s going to be 2-3 weeks from the date of the injury, so there will be one week remaining on Tuesday.
‘We are being cautious with him because it’s on the side where he had the hamstring graft for the ACL, but nothing major. Hopefully he’ll be back within 10 days to two weeks, early January, but it’s nothing to worry about.
‘I think we did the right thing taking him off against Norwich as a precaution, judging by the fact he didn’t manage to train this week. We wanted to make sure we got everything right.
‘We have taken into account the 11 months he had out with his injury history and we’ve got to get him right.’
Pompey’s absences meant the Blues looked to their Academy to bolster the bench for the 4-1 victory.
Mousinho added: ‘Of the others missing, there are a few minor niggles and an illness at the moment.
‘Elias was ill on Friday and not quite right again, it’s one of those things where we don’t want to spread it around the group.
‘Harvey is still struggling slightly with a knee injury and Abdu (Kamara) picked up a toe problem in training on Friday, which ruled him out.
‘Nobody has been left out, if they’re not in the squad it’s just illness and injury issues.’