The 20-month wait for a huge boost to Portsmouth’s Championship aspirations
They are unbeaten together in league action for Pompey - and now the key duo are back in a big Championship boost for John Mousinho.
It’s the perfect sight to be celebrated for Pompey fans - one which bodes well for the Championship season ahead.
And it’s undefeated link-up which has been dearly missed, undoubtedly having a significant impact on the early-season travails of John Mousinho’s men last term.
Pair unbeaten in Pompey league action back together
Conversely the emergence of the defensive partnership of Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole at the start of the 2023-24 campaign, proved central to the memorable League One title success which ensued.
That reality is underlined by Pompey remaining undefeated for the 13 league games when the duo lined up together.
The pair were reunited this week for Pompey’s opening pre-season double header against Woking and Farnborough, as they linked up in the second half of Tuesday’s 2-0 success against Neal Ardley’s men.
They were then handed the first 45 minutes of the 5-0 win the following night in north Hampshire, with more of the same expected as Pompey go to Crawley this weekend.
Of course, there was a sudden and unfortunate halt to the pair’s excellent understanding, as Poole’s Fratton career came crashing to a halt 11 minutes into the FA Cup defeat at Chesterfield in November 2023.
The Wales international’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury halted his season and was the start of 10 months on the sidelines for the 27-year-old.
By the time Poole returned last September, Shaughnessy was enduring his own fitness issues with calf and hamstring problems decimating his 2024-25 season.
Mousinho has been honest about how he feels the pair’s problems impacted Pompey, with the benefit of having them back in contention clear building into the season.
With Ibane Bowat and Tom McIntyre, who has been told he can leave, having their fitness issues to contend with at present, Aussie Hayden Matthews is the other fit senior defender at the Blues boss’ disposal.
That could make the unbeaten league pairing even more important going into the new Championship campaign.
Poole and Shaughnessy ‘pivotal’ in Pompey success
Mousinho said of the Poole-Shaughnessy partnership: ‘It’s been a long time, so it’s a positive to see both of them back together and it’s positive to see Shaughs in particular, who didn’t have a huge amount of game time last season.
‘Regan came back from his ACL injury and performed well, but Shaughs in particular with the amount of games he missed - it’s really pleasing to see him slot back in.
‘The pair of them were pivotal in that League One season and then last year we had a few partnerships, a few different partnerships.
‘It’s one of those departments where we want to be strong and we do have a few centre-halves at the moment, we have five contracted centre-halves.
‘Unfortunately Tom (McIntyre) and Ibs (Bowat) aren’t available at the minute but I thought the two of them showed a lot of promise in their performance and I thought Hayden’s performance in the second half (at Farnborough) showed a lot of promise, particularly with the ball.’