Portsmouth handed key injury boost as new return date for January arrival pencilled in
Thomas Waddingham has netted one goal in 10 appearances at Fratton Park.
Thomas Waddingham is set to hand Pompey an injury boost.
The striker has been sidelined for more than a month due to a quad injury picked up in training ahead of the south-coast derby draw with Southampton.
That has since ruled the Aussie sensation out of the Blues’ previous six matches, with deadline-day arrival Makenzie Kirk occupying a place on the bench as Colby Bishop’s understudy.
However, that appears to have changed, with John Mousinho earmarking Pompey’s Championship contest against Millwall on November 22 as the comeback date.
Thomas Waddingham injury update
Indeed that would be at least two weeks ahead of schedule following the 12-week timeframe originally given after September’s meeting against Southampton.
The Blues boss told The News last week: ‘He has been out running and is progressing nicely, but we are still three weeks post-injury, so it’s November for him. Probably around Millwall (November 22),’
Waddingham’ return will no doubt come as a welcome boost for Pompey, who remain without a number of key attacking options.
The January signing continues to be sidelined alongside Josh Murphy (ankle), Franco Umeh (hamstring), Callum Lang (hamstring) and Harvey Blair (hamstring) as well as defensive absentees in Conor Shaughnessy (hamstring) and Nicolas Schmid (hand).
But the striker’s timely comeback could align with Lang and Umeh, who have also both been pencilled in for Pompey’s trip to The Den next month.
That will provide much-needed cover for the likes of Colby Bishop, Conor Chaplin, Adrian Segecic and Minhyeok Yang, who have been an ever-present figures in Mousinho’s side in recent weeks.
Umeh’s return date has been pushed back once again as a hamstring issue continues to rule out the deadline-day signing.
The winger is yet to feature since his move on September 1 after sustaining the problem during pre-season while at Selhurst Park prior to his switch.
Before the international break, Mousinho gave a time frame of 2-4 weeks before a possible return to training for the 21-year-old, but that has since been pushed back.
Speaking last week, the head coach said: ‘Franco is probably about 3-4 weeks away from a return to training. He might be training around that Millwall game (November 22).
‘He has spent a long time out, he didn’t train properly with Crystal Palace before he signed here, so he’s going to take a bit longer.’
Pompey welcome league leaders Coventry to Fratton Park looking to continue their three-game unbeaten run.
Mousinho admitted he has the same squad to choose from Saturday, with Murphy and Blair still missing out.