"Serious consideration" - Portsmouth: John Mousinho reveals Colby Bishop update ahead of Swansea City | OneFootball

The striker was set to start his first game of the season in midweek.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has provided an update on where Colby Bishop's fitness is at ahead of their trip to Swansea City on Saturday.

It's been a season to forget so far for the Pompey striker. It started with open-heart surgery after a potential issue was flagged up during a routine check.

That kept him from making his Championship debut - a point that he had been working towards his whole career - until the club's last match against Preston North End, 14 games into the campaign.

Since then, Portsmouth have had two contests cancelled for various reasons. Their trip to Blackburn had to be postponed because of the bad weather that was brought by Storm Bert to Ewood Park, making the Rovers pitch unplayable.

Then, four days later, Pompey had issues at their ground with the power and lighting, forcing their match with Millwall to be called off almost an hour on from the originally scheduled starting time.

Bishop was set to start that match, but we will have to wait for his return to Mousinho's first XI, much like the club's games against Blackburn and Millwall.

John Mousinho provides Colby Bishop fitness update

Despite selecting him to start in the eventually cancelled midweek match, the manager has said that Bishop isn't yet fit enough to play a full match.

"I don't think he's quite ready to play 90 minutes," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"I think there's a serious consideration there that once we get to 45 minutes to see where he is and I think the same will apply if and when he next starts a game."

It's only been about four months since the star striker, who scored 21 times for Portsmouth in their League One-winning season last time out, underwent major surgery. That combined with his lack of game minutes should make the news of his relative lack of fitness much of a surprise.

In other forward fitness-related news, Mousinho also said that he is waiting to hear about the severity of the knee injury suffered by Kusini Yengi while on international duty with Australia. According to The News, it is "highly likely" that Yengi will miss this weekend's match against Swansea City.

Colby Bishop's improved fitness will be a huge boost to Portsmouth

As of now, Pompey supporters have only seen the 28-year-old in action for a dozen minutes this season. Of course, they, Mousinho and everybody else associated with the club will want their star man to be back to full fitness ASAP, but even just him starting games is a huge boost for Portsmouth.

One of their big issues this season has been finishing. Summer arrivals Harvey Blair, Mark O'Mahony and Elias Sorensen haven't hit any sort of consistently good form, while the likes of Yengi have had their campaign so far majorly interrupted by injuries.

Bishop brings goals: that is pretty much a given. If he gets opportunities in the right areas, then he will usually convert them. That quality has been missing from Mousinho's side; having it back will be so important to them as they try to fight their way up the table.