Portsmouth boss lifts lids on shock ‘triallists’ joining squad in Croatia

The Blues yesterday staged a full-scale 11 v 11 game at their Medulin pre-season camp on the Adriatic Coast, as an intense week of training continued.

And making the numbers up were a couple of defenders bringing Premier League and Championship experience to the table.

The identity of those players can today be revealed as none other than Pompey boss Mousinho and first-team development coach Zesh Rehman!

The pair lined up against each other, with a weather warning in place and temperatures soaring above 35 Deg Celcius at the Medulin Sport Centar Arena.

Rehman was at pains to point out it was his side who emerged victorious from a very high-tempo clash, with players fully committed.

Mousinho offered a tongue-in-cheek yet damning assessment of his coach’s performance, with the boss happy to heap praise on his display…

The Pompey boss said: ‘The triallist on the blue team we’re going to have to let go, unfortunately - he just wasn’t good enough.

‘He’s a centre-half but in fairness to him he’s 40 years’ old! Maybe that was part of his issue!

‘The one that really caught the eye was the right-sided centre-half.

‘I think at 38 he looks like he still has a couple of years left in him - we’ll be thinking of offering his something in the next few days.

‘Okay, it was me and Zesh joining in to make it 11 v 11!’