'Sometimes I'll tell the truth, sometimes I won't!': Portsmouth boss on Colby Bishop's miraculous recovery to face Oxford United
Colby Bishop was a shock name in the Blues’ starting XI after being ruled out for the start of the season
John Mousinho reflected on Colby Bishop’s miraculous recovery and joked: ‘Sometimes I will tell the truth, sometimes I won’t!’
The Fratton favourite was ruled out for up to three weeks after sustaining a groin injury in training, representing a devastating early-season blow.
Well, that was according to their head coach in the aftermath of the 1-0 win over PEC Zwolle, with the 28-year-old missing from that final pre-season friendly.
Mousinho maintained that stance at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon - only for Bishop to start against Oxford United in the season opener.
What’s more, he was also named captain and featured for the full 90 minutes as he led the Blues to a 1-0 success at the Kassam Stadium.
Mousinho: ‘Colby had genuinely been struggling’
Mousinho told The News: ‘You know me well enough, it was a little bit (of game playing). Sometimes I will tell the truth, sometimes I won’t.
‘Colby had genuinely been struggling with that groin injury, hence he didn't play last weekend.
‘But it was one of those things that Colby did then say to me after he missed the game: ‘I’ll be fit for next week.
‘We trust Colby, he put in a monster of a performance on Saturday, he was brilliant leading the line.
‘He trained from Monday onwards, I didn’t even think about bringing him off against Oxford, I thought he was excellent.’
Dream debut for talented Australian
Bishop was involved in the only goal of the match after intercepting Cameron Brannagan’s awful backpass in the 38th minute.
Jamie Cumming subsequently saved the one-on-one, yet Adrian Segecic pounced on the loose ball from the edge of the box, taking a touch, before firing home left footed.
It marked a dream debut for the 21-year-old in his first competitive match in England since his summer move from Sydney FC.
During the second half, Pompey were forced to defend their penalty area for large periods, particularly from the threat of long throws.
But they held on for a victory thanks to Bishop’s opportunism and Segecic’s smart finish.
‘For 60 minutes we controlled the game well’
Mousinho added: I was really pleased with the performance in large parts. For 60 minutes we controlled the game well, we looked fairly comfortable, certainly in the first half we created the better of the chances.
‘Florian had a couple of really good chances at the back post and we got a bit fortunate with the goal because of the backpass, but we probably earned that through the way we pressed and the way we worked off the ball.
‘The last half an hour was different, it was a bit more difficult, we probably made a couple of mistakes that allowed Oxford to build pressure and they did it in a very, very different way. So they went a lot more direct, long throws, corners, free-kicks, all those set-pieces.
‘Ultimately, we dealt with them and that’s something we are going to have to do as the season goes on. It’s those minor details in between where we did invite a bit of pressure and didn’t put the ball into the back of the net at the other end.
‘Not that we created a huge amount of chances, but, with chances to keep the pressure and chances to get shots away, I think we’ll improve on.’