Positive Portsmouth injury news at last - John Mousinho on double reason to celebrate against Charlton
The Blues moved up to 19th in the Championship after a crucial win at The Valley
For the head coach afterwards also delivered the additional boost every Blues follower desperately wanted to hear: No additional injuries.
Pompey were without 13 players for Tuesday night’s 3-1 triumph at Charlton, marking a third away win of the season which lifted them into 19th position.
In addition, Adrian Segecic was named on the bench having suffered a dead leg against Sheffield United on Saturday, although the attacker wasn’t used out of precaution.
Still, in the absence of so many, Terry Devlin’s double and Colby Bishop’s penalty completed the Blues’ first double of the season.
And, afterwards, Mousinho was delighted to report a rare clean bill of health - with Saturday’s trip to Millwall on the horizon.
‘I think we’re okay’
He told The News: ‘I don’t think we have any more injuries, the substitutions we made were just tactical. I think we're okay.
‘We’ll dust ourselves down today and see how we are.
‘With Segs, he had a mini-fitness test yesterday when we were at the hotel. We didn’t want to overdo it, we were always just going to have him travel and have him on the bench.
‘The alternative was to bring in an under-18 which we weren’t going to use, so we thought we’d see how Segs was.
‘He did the full warm-up, he was fine, but it was one of those where if we’d needed him to come in for a goal we would have used him, but, apart from that, it was just wise to try to protect him.
‘If he takes another knock on that in between now and Saturday it’s probably not the best thing, so it was just protecting him.
‘It's a bit similar to when we had Regan (Poole) there for Southampton. Hopefully he should be fine for the weekend.’
13 players out injured
As it stands, Pompey are without Andre Dozzell (ankle), Conor Chaplin (groin), Aji Alese (quad), Keshi Anderson (hamstring), Conor Shaughnessy (hip flexor), Harvey Blair (hip flexor), Mark Kosznovszky (ACL), Hayden Matthews (ankle), Franco Umeh (hamstring), Josh Murphy (foot), Florian Bianchini (knee tendonitis), Thomas Waddingham (groin) and Josh Knight (back).
However, last week Mousinho pinpointed Millwall as a potential return date for Blair, who hasn’t played since sustaining a hip flexor injury against Arsenal in last month’s FA Cup third-round tie.
In the absence of Dozzell, who is scheduled to undergo a scan on the ankle he injured against Sheffield United, Marlon Park returned to the Blues’ starting line-up for the first time in 2026.
He partnered Ebou Adams in the centre of the midfield at The Valley, with his last start also ironically coming against Charlton on December 29 when Pompey won 2-1 at Fratton Park.
While Paraguayan under-23 international Gustavo Caballero was named on the right wing for his first start since arriving in England on transfer deadline day.
Although Pompey introduced Jordan Williams, Jacob Brown and Ibane Bowat off the bench in the 3-1 success, they declined to utilise their remaining two substitute spots, including Segecic.
Now the Australian, plus Blair, could be closer to contention for Saturday’s visit to The Den against a Millwall side positioned third in the table.