Portsmouth in anxious wait to discover whether key man is latest injury blow

Pompey are waiting to learn the extent of their latest injury after Joe Morrell was forced off against Fleetwood.

The Welsh international was caught by Ben Heneghan after reaching the ball first in the 36th minute, earning the Fleetwood man a booking.

He saw out the remainder of Saturday's first-half, but had to be replaced at the break, with Christian Saydee instead introduced.

That prompted a midfield reshuffle, with Tom Lowery dropping back to fill Morrell’s holding slot alongside Marlon Pack in the Blues 1-0 victory.

Now Pompey’s medical team are assessing the damage to their influential ex-Luton man at the end of a week which saw Joe Rafferty miss the game with a neck problem.

Mousinho told The News: ‘It was a really bad challenge and I’m not entirely sure how bad it is for Joe.

‘I don’t actually know what it is either, to be honest, because of the message that he was going to have to come off at half-time.

‘Fair play, Tom Lowery slotted back in there and I thought did well in different position during that second half.

‘Joe tried to play on, but knew he was done after 38-39 minutes. He said he’d go on until half-time, which then included five minutes of time added-on, so fair play to him.

‘He did a really solid job. We expect that from professionals, some wouldn’t do it, but Joe did on Saturday.’

Morrell was booked for pulling back a Fleetwood player shortly before half-time, yet Mousinho insists that didn’t influence the decision to substitute him.

That represented his third yellow card in nine matches since being sent off against Blackpool in November for a second red of the campaign.

Mousinho added: ‘He took the yellow when they were breaking and it would have been a conversation at half-time to stay sensible and see how the game goes.

‘But that wasn’t the reason why he came off, it’s the injury.’