Reuben Swann admits Portsmouth 'frustration' as he targets building on encouraging comeback
The teenager joined the Blues from AFC Sudbury in June 2024
Reuben Swann is gunning to make up for lost time after finally putting his pre-season frustration behind him.
The 19-year-old made his long-awaited Pompey friendly entrance tonight in the goalless draw with the Hawks - and produced a highly encouraging display.
The promising midfielder had been sidelined by a hip flexor injury for the previous four Blues fixtures this summer, yet returned to John Mousinho’s side at Westleigh Park.
Swann featured in the opening 45 minutes, before being replaced by Academy second-year scholar Fraser Thomas at half-time in a pre-determined substitution.
And the former AFC Sudbury player, who has still to make his competitive debut for Pompey since arriving in June 2024 , was delighted to have emerged from his comeback game without further injury set-back.
Swann told The News: ‘It’s just good to be back out there and playing again after the frustration of missing the last four pre-season games.
‘I felt I came in quite sharp coming back from the off-season, I worked quite hard to improve some stuff. There’s still loads to improve on, but I felt quite good to be fair.
‘I wanted to come back and keep improving, so I returned home to my family in the summer, did running, gym work and technical one-on-one sessions, it helped.
‘Then, in Slovakia, I did my hip flexor, which was so frustrating because I knew I would have played a few games and also missed out on a lot of training time.
‘It was quite sore when we were training at The Lensbury, but was manageable, I was getting through it. Then I remember jumping over a hurdle and felt it just go.
‘I was enjoying myself, I felt confident, which I haven’t felt in a while, it was just good to be back playing and doing quite well - so for that to happen was very frustrating.’
It was ironic that Swann’s comeback match should come against the Hawks, where he spent last season on loan.
Despite the midfielder wanting more match minutes during his time at Westleigh Park, the spell proved beneficial in his development, while he also impressed their supporters.
And in a first outing in a Pompey shirt since this time last year, when handed eight minutes off the bench in a 2-0 victory at Bognor, Swann was pleased how he fared.
He added: ‘There were a few little glimpses of what I can do, but I was a bit sloppy at times.
‘The main thing for me was just being back out there, I enjoyed it to be fair, I think I did all right and obviously there are things to improve on.
‘Monday was the first time I had done full training since my injury and even that was quite light. I haven't really done too much, so the plan was to do 45 minutes - but the main thing was to get through it without any injuries.’