Portsmouth sweating on relegation battle availability of duo after fresh injury blows

Mark O’Mahony and Zak Swanson missed Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Millwall after being forced out of training in the build up with issues.

O’Mahony felt his back during Friday’s training session, prompting the Blues to decide against risking him at The Den, although he did travel with the squad.

While Swanson reported discomfort in his heel ahead of the match, raising concerns of a recurrence of the issue which kept him out for seven matches from October.

The Blues’ medical team are waiting to learn the full extent of the injuries to both players ahead of Wednesday’s visit to Coventry.

And John Mousinho is hoping for an update this afternoon in time for his pre-match press conference.

He told The News: ‘Mark felt his back in training on Friday. He travelled with us to Millwall, but it was one of those where he had an instance where he came on against Swansea (November) and came straight back off because of an injury he picked up.

‘We need every player at 100 per cent, we need him ready to go, but Mark just wasn't quite there, so we made the decision on Saturday morning.

‘He travelled with us, but we made the decision to leave him out because he had pulled out of training the previous day.

‘With Zak, I don’t know the extent of the injury yet, it’s nothing long-term. It’s a very, very similar injury to the one which he had previously and kept him out.

‘It’s nothing too bad, but a heel injury which he had previously and it was natural for Jordan (Williams) to come in at right-back.

‘We had already earmarked Terry Devlin to play against Millwall as a 10 because of the physical nature of it and the fact it was going to be about second balls.’

New blow for right-back

For Swanson, the blow ended an injury-free run, having previously made 24 successive squads and started 10 of the last 12 fixtures.

His absence opened the door for Williams, who was handed his first Pompey start since January, having been sidelined by a hamstring injury collected at West Brom.

The former Barnsley man featured for 69 minutes, before a triple substitution marked his departure, with Devlin dropping into the right-back role for the remainder of the match.

Mousinho added: ‘Terry showed a huge amount of energy (in the 10 role), he picked up a lot of second balls, but it’s just about how he can take his game to the next level, which is showing a bit more quality when he’s got the ball.

‘He's a constant threat because of his running ability and the fact he’s aggressive. He just needs to make sure he keeps improving in technical terms.

‘Terry and Adil (Aouchiche) in that role are chalk and cheese, they are completely different players. Adil is more of a technical 10 who’s going to get on the ball in different areas.

‘Whereas Terry’s probably a bit more powerful, stretches the game more, is very different on second balls and picking up things in the physical side of the game.’

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