Colby Bishop made a welcomed return to action as he played his first match since undergoing heart surgery. His return was kept under wraps until he was named in the match-day squad. He came off the bench 12 minutes from time and then in the last minute of regulation time, he scored a spot-kick to give Pompey their first home win of the season in front of the Fratton Park faithful.
Bishop wasn’t the only player to return as Paddy Lane made a four minute cameo. He suffered an Achilles injury in the defeat to Cardiff City in October, but came back after missing three games.
Pompey’s injury list is dwindling, but there are still some players that there are a few question marks on or won’t return in time for when the action resumes against Blackburn Rovers. With a trip to Ewood Park on Saturday, November 23, here’s who’s either doubtful or confirmed to be out for the fixture.
Jordan Williams was absent for the game against Preston North End after picking up a suspected hamstring injury a couple of days prior against Plymouth Argyle. It was a case of wait and see regarding Williams when John Mousinho did his pre-match press conference, and ultimately the former Barnsley defender didn’t play.
With not much revealed about Williams at the moment, his status for the match is currently doubtful. The international break will have come at the right time however as it will have afforded him time to recover, and it may not have been too serious of an injury.
Terry Devlin lined up in the absence of Williams with Zak Swanson still sidelined by a heel injury. Swanson has been out of action for the last six games with plantar fasciitis.
Unfortunately with the nature of the injury that the former Arsenal youth right-back has, it’s not something that is a quick fix. Plantar fasciitis affects a person’s ability to walk, and so it prohibits Swanson from even taking part in light training, and so only when the pain has stopped will he be able to make a return.
Summer signing Jacob Farrell has been out since the start of October after a recurrence of a knee issue following an injury sustained on the training ground. Mousinho said it would be ‘too soon’ for Farrell to return against Preston North End, but a return should be in sight.
A return isn’t ‘completely out of the question’ for Conor Shaughnessy according to John Mousinho but it’s all about making sure he’s ready to return. The 28-year-old has made just two appearances this season and when he was due to play against Sheffield United having missed four games, he had to withdraw from the squad completely after an issue arose during the warm-up.
As of the end of October, he hadn’t yet returned to training but depending on how he’s been over the last fortnight, he could soon come in to the reckoning. It would be a welcomed return given Pompey have shipped the most goals in the division.
Harvey Blair hasn’t played for Pompey since the start of October. He was dealing with a hamstring problem which ruled him out against Hull City and Plymouth, but he was available for the game against Preston, however he didn’t make the match day squad.
Will Norris is in a similar position to Blair that he has since recovered from his injury, but has not made the match day squad. A knee issue kept Norris out, but he since recovered from that. Nicolas Schmid has replaced him as number one and Jordan Archer is acting as back-up to the Austrian.
One player that won’t be appearing any time soon is deadline day signing Ibane Bowat. He ruptured the patella tendon in his right knee during a training session and required surgery, which has put him out the remainder of the season, with the former Fulham youngster made to wait for his debut.
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