Portsmouth pre-season: The winners and losers from Mousinho’s squad
Portsmouth have completed their schedule of pre-season fixtures without conceding a goal.
John Mousinho’s side signed off from pre-season with 1-0 victory against PEC Zwolle on Saturday, after a late Thomas Waddingham strike.
They had previously beaten Woking, Farnborough, Crawley, Reading and Brighton under-21s.
Mousinho will be proud of his team’s performances in these games, especially considering many of his players were returning from long-term injuries.
Below, Pompey News rounds up the key winners and losers of the pre-season schedule from the Pompey squad.
Adrian Segecic the big winner from pre-season
Adrian Segecic was signed in June in time to take part in all of Portsmouth’s pre-season friendlies.
Segecic was the top goalscorer in the Australian A-League last season, but some had questioned whether he’d be able to make the step-up to Championship football.
The 21-year-old has certainly looked very sharp in pre-season. He bagged his first Portsmouth goal in his first appearance against Woking, and wowed the Fratton Park crowd against PEC Zwolle. Based on these performances, it seems certain that he’ll start against Oxford on 9 August.
Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole will also be thrilled with their pre-season performances. The pair have looked solid whenever paired together and have cemented themselves as the first-choice defensive pairing.
Shaughnessy will be particularly pleased, considering his long injury lay-off at the back end of last season.
Paddy Lane deemed surplus to requirements after pre-season performances
Portsmouth have sold or released several fringe players deemed surplus to requirements, with most of these out the door before pre-season began.
However, Paddy Lane featured in several pre-season friendlies before Mousinho decided to sell him to Reading, so he could be considered the ‘loser’ of Pompey’s pre-season.
With that said, he did score against Woking and Brighton under-21s. He’ll play more at Reading and will likely do very well for them, so the transfer could be considered a win for everyone involved.
| Opponent | Result |
| Woking (A) | Won 2-0 |
| Farnborough (A) | Won 5-0 |
| Crawley (A) | Won 1-0 |
| Reading (A) | Won 4-0 |
| Havant and Waterlooville (A) | Drew 0-0 |
| Brighton U21s (A) | Won 4-0 |
| PEC Zwolle (H) | Won 1-0 |
Colby Bishop won’t be thrilled with his pre-season though. The striker was only fit enough to start the game against Reading. He scored twice in that game but also suffered a nasty head injury that kept him grounded for several minutes.
Now, it has emerged that Bishop has picked up a groin injury in training and is likely to miss the first few weeks of the season.
Thankfully, that’s the only injury that has stalled Portsmouth’s preparations for the new season.
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