Football League World
·2 December 2024
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·2 December 2024
The young Irishman only managed 12 minutes at the weekend as a result of getting hurt.
Mark O'Mahony "didn't look great" after sustaining a hip injury in Portsmouth's 2-2 draw with Swansea City, according to John Mousinho.
A third win of the season looked on for Pompey before two goals - an own goal just before halftime and a Liam Cullen strike - erased their 2-0 lead over Swansea.
This isn't the first time that they have dropped points from a good position, and it's not a habit that they will want to maintain as one of the teams that are scrapping at the bottom end of the table.
Injuries have played a huge role in life at Fratton Park over the past 18 months. Even in their promotion-winning campaign, Portsmouth were still hugely affected by fitness blows. That trend has carried on to this season, and has now moved to the striker department.
With Kusini Yengi out for an unknown amount of time thanks to a knee injury, and star number nine Colby Bishop having only just made his first start of the season after undergoing open-heart surgery in the summer, Mousinho's options up front have been potentially made thinner after Saturday's draw, in which O'Mahony was forced off.
He took a hit on his hip which ultimately led to the end of his game, just 12 minutes after replacing Bishop in the second half.
The Pompey boss admitted before the match that Bishop wasn't fit to play a full 90 minutes. Now that the young Irish forward could be out, that only leaves him, Christian Saydee and Elias Sorensen to pick from up top.
"Mark didn’t look great, but I don’t think it’s too bad. It’s just a whack to the hip.
"He wasn’t moving particularly well, there was ice on his hip after he came off. I didn't really have a chance to see how he was after the game. So that was a frustrating one."
Bishop got 55 minutes on Saturday before being hooked for the Brighton & Hove Albion 19-year-old loanee. You'd imagine that, in Portsmouth's next match, versus Bristol City, his minutes will then be pushed to between 60-75. In a few games, he should be at the point where he can get through a full 90.
But patience will be needed, and that's something that Mousinho must be struggling to keep at the moment with all the injury issues.
Building Bishop's match fitness back up requires adequate replacements for him when he's not on the pitch. The threat of O'Mahony not being available makes that even harder. If he is ruled out of the next game, or for even longer, it could put more unnecessary strain on the club's number nine, or put more of the load on those behind him that may not be able to carry it well.
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