Portsmouth boss John Mousinho adamant about Josh Murphy ahead of Stoke game - plus Adrian Segecic latest

Josh Murphy won’t start Pompey’s game against Stoke City on Saturday.

Pompey boss John Mousinho has confirmed the winger, who has sat out the Blues’ past six games with an ankle injury, will be available for the game against Mark Robins’ side.

The 30-year-old has returned to training with the Pompey first team, took part in Wednesday’s session, and is in line to make his long-awaited return this weekend.

However, Mousinho will resist the temptation to throw the former Cardiff and Norwich winger straight back into action from the start - despite his forward options for the game being significantly reduced in the past 24 hours.

John Swift will miss the game against Stoke due to a one-match ban, after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in Tuesday night’s defeat against Coventry.

Meanwhile, Adrian Segecic is not expected to feature after he limped off against the Sky Blues, just 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute. The 21-year-old Australian will under a scan on his damaged left ankle later on Wednesday.

Callum Lang remains sidelined, too, with the hamstring injury he suffered against Norwich on August 16.

Mousinho will likely look at either Florian Bianchini or Mark Kosznovszky to fill the void left by Swift for Saturday’s lunch-time fixture, with the Blues boss insisting Murphy isn’t a starting option.

John Mousinho latest on Josh Murphy

Murphy’s last Pompey appearance came against Southampton on September 14.

Speaking ahead of his likely return as a substitute only on Saturday, Mousinho said: ‘He won't start straight away. We've got to give him time.

‘I haven't thought remotely about anything beyond the weekend, so what I know is his availability for the weekend. That will be it, then we'll reassess how his fitness levels are the week after that.’

Update on Adrian Segecic

Summer signing Segecic suffered his ankle injury on 74 minutes against Frank Lampard’s side. He was awarded a foul for the incident in question, yet it’s not clear whether the contact he received caused the actual problem

The visibl- distraught forward headed straight to Pompey’s Fratton Park changing room once the decision was taken to bring him off, with the Aussie spotted leaving PO4 on crutches after the game.

He did not report for training on Wednesday and will undergo a scan to discover the extent of the damage suffered.

Mousinho added: ‘He’s not happy. No player is happy when he’s injured and Adrian is exactly the same.

‘He’s not been in today, there’s no point dragging him in, he’s going for a scan later on. We’ll see how he is later on this afternoon.’

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