'Gutted': Portsmouth boss feels for luckless Josef Bursik after cruel set-back on Stoke homecoming
The goalkeeper’s first-team return ended in agony after sustaining a fourth-minute injury
John Mousinho reflected on Josef Bursik’s cruel injury on his Stoke homecoming and admitted: ‘I’m gutted for him’.
With Pompey having secured their Championship future earlier in the week, the Blues opted to rotate their squad for Saturday’s trip to the bet365 Stadium.
Among the five changes was Bursik being handed a first league start since November in place of the rested Nicolas Schmid, while Ben Killip was named on the bench as goalkeeping back-up.
It was no doubt an emotional return for the 25-year-old, who came through Stoke’s Academy to make 53 first-team appearances until moving to Club Brugge in January 2023.
However, just four minutes into the action against the Potters, he damaged his quad, with Killip replacing him - and is now expected to be out for up to eight weeks.
‘I’m guessing it will be a 6-8 weeker’
Mousinho told The News: ‘Joe’s not great, he felt his quad in that first kick. Obviously it wasn’t a tactical one when he went down because he came off.
‘It was the first goal kick, he went long and his thigh went. I will be extremely surprised if he’s back for the last game, I’m guessing it will be a 6-8 weeker.
‘I am really gutted for Joe because he’s been an excellent number two for the majority of the season - and is one of those players who really is better than being a Championship number two.
‘I wanted to give him a chance on Saturday. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for him, but I thought Ben came in and was excellent.
‘Ben did really well, he showed a lot of composure in possession, kicked well after probably the first couple. He settled himself down and kicked really well, while I can’t remember him making any errors goalkeeper-wise.
‘He pulled out that fantastic second-half stop to cancel out the error that Jojo had made with the pass, but couldn’t do anything about the goal, and his distribution was very calm and composed.’
First appearance since September 2025
For Killip, it was a first appearance since the 2-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in September 2025 - more than seven months ago.
At the time he was deputising for Schmid, who had fractured his right hand against Southampton, but the stand-in soon lost his first-team spot to newcomer Bursik.
Subsequently, once Schmid returned to fitness in November, Killip was replaced on the bench by Bursik and found himself out of the squad for 29 successive Championship matches.
That was until Saturday - only to be introduced as a substitute in the fourth minute for the sixth outing of his 18-month Blues career.
And, with the 30-year-old contracted until the summer of 2027, Mousinho feels Killip may well want to assess his options this summer due to ongoing lack of first-team opportunities.
’It depends on whether he wants to go and get guaranteed games elsewhere’
Pompey’s head coach added: ‘Ben came out of that Sheffield Wednesday game and has been really unlucky because we’ve had that strong goalkeeping unit ahead of him.
‘But he travels to every away game, you’ve seen him in the warm-ups, he’s brilliant to have around the place, I absolutely love having Ben here.
‘I would love to have Ben at the football club for as long as he wants to be here, it depends on whether he wants to go and get guaranteed games elsewhere, because he is more than good enough.
‘But he is a brilliant pro to have around.’