Portsmouth midfielder savours sensational return after scoring six minutes into long-awaited comeback

Pompey finally set Reuben Swann free - and it took the midfielder a mere six minutes to make his impressive mark.

John Mousinho had resisted the opportunity to send the 19-year-old out on a non-league loan during the early part of the campaign.

Instead the head coach favoured keeping the former AFC Sudbury youngster around his first-team and working under the Blues’ coaching staff to aid his development.

Coupled with recovery from a hip flexor injury sustained on their Slovakian training camp in July, it had been more than five months since Swann’s last competitive outing.

However, having been fully fit for more than a month, the leash was at last removed at the end of last week, when given the green light to join the Hawks on a one-month loan.

A goal-scoring return to Westleigh Park

Named on the bench in Saturday’s FA Trophy clash with Tiverton Town, the youngster was introduced in the 68th minute - and, six minutes later, put them into a 3-1 lead.

The match finished 4-2, with Swann also collecting a booking upon his return to the club where he spent last season on loan, as the Hawks progressed into the First Round Proper of the competition.

For the midfielder, it represented a first competitive outing since April, when he featured as an 89th-minute substitute in a 2-0 win over Wimborne Town as the Hawks fell agonisingly narrowly short of a play-off position.

Certainly Swann will be hoping for more first-team starts in his second Westleigh Park spell, having scored seven goals and posted six assists last term, yet with the vast majority of his 43 appearances coming off the bench.

Disappointing start to the season for Hawks

He joins a club presently positioned 15th in Southern League Southern Central following a disappointing start to the campaign, with three wins in eight league fixtures.

Indeed, local rivals Gosport are currently four points ahead and lying in eighth, with Gloucester City leading the table.

Swann, who arrived from AFC Sudbury in June 2024 for an undisclosed fee, has yet to make his first-team debut for Pompey, while has totalled three pre-season friendly outings.

Last month, Mousinho revealed Pompey’s development plans for the teenager consisted of training with the first-team rather than a loan spell.

Although he stressed the situation could be revisited ‘when we think games are the right thing to do’.

Pompey boss: Fitness for Reuben is a big thing

Pompey’s head coach last month told The News: ‘Reuben is training with us and he is fit, but we are not looking at a loan right now. What we want with Reuben is a really solid period of training with us.

‘We could loan him out and then he’s probably stop-start playing for a side which maybe isn’t full-time, maybe it’s a hybrid part-time in terms of the training, so we want him here.

‘Fitness for Reuben is a big thing, we need to make sure he stays away from the small niggly injuries - and I think training with the first-team every day is the best possible thing for him at the moment.

‘At the minute we are not considering any loans, we’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks. We think training is going to be the best thing for him.

‘Training in a professional environment every single day is the best possible thing for Reuben and, when we think games are the right thing to do, we’ll then loan him out.’

Now Swann has his loan move, with the Hawks offering a month at least to aid his development.

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