'There's an argument for not playing the loanees': Portsmouth boss' selection stance on Spurs, Ipswich and Manchester United players after play-off failure
John Mousinho insists Pompey’s selection policy is unchanged, despite falling short in their play-off ambition.
And he has ruled out axing his five loanees to instead hand first-team opportunities to fringe players over the remaining three matches.
A struggling Accrington side positioned second from bottom in League One visit Fratton Park on Saturday
They will face a Blues team who have posted four successive draws in a campaign which once promised so much, yet is now fading away.
The likes of Matt Macey, Owen Dale, Joe Pigott, Di’Shon Bernard and Dane Scarlett are scheduled to return to their parent clubs at the season’s end.
But Mousinho will not be taking them off first-team duty before then, despite little to play for.
He told The News: ‘We are still going to take each game as it comes and to pick a team which we think can win the game, that’s our priority.
‘We are going to look for a performance, look to win the match and, ultimately, have to select a side we think can do that.
‘Not a huge amount has changed since Tuesday night, when we thought we were in with a sniff of the play-offs if we had won the game.
‘But we still owe it to ourselves, everyone connected to the football club, and the whole league to make sure we pick a competitive side that’s going to have a right go on Saturday.
‘It will be about picking players based on who we think deserves to play to give us the best opportunity of winning the game.
‘Certainly there’s an argument for not playing the loanees, but if all of a sudden we take the five loan players out of the equation it affects the side, it affects the team.
‘I don't think that's the right thing to do from any perspective, least of all to be fair on the league and making sure we fulfil the fixtures properly.
‘I wouldn’t be looking to leave out our five loan players because it would leave us short. So, on that point, it’s most likely we’ll see loan players in the side on Saturday.’
Another route for team changes could be utilising promising young duo Harry Jewitt-White and Koby Mottoh against Stanley.
Mousinho added: ‘The five of them out on loan and won’t be available for selection on Saturday.
‘Using Liam as an example, Worthing are hoping to make the play-offs, so his loan could be extended into May. That’s not something we are going to be looking at on Saturday.
Quite possibly Koby Mottoh and Harry Jewitt-White could be involved, they are in our thoughts every week anyway.
‘Koby was last month on the bench (Port Vale) and Harry also was earlier this month against Morecambe.’