Confirmed: Portsmouth FC dealt frustrating player blow | OneFootball

Pompey have been unable to break this poor fitness cycle that they have been in since the start of last season.

Portsmouth defender Conor Shaughnessy has suffered another injury setback which is set to keep him out of action for a further six weeks, John Mousinho has confirmed.

A turning of the tide was felt last time out for Pompey against Preston North End. Their first Fratton Park win was capped off by the return of Colby Bishop, who fired home a penalty to help secure the three points for his side.

That was his first appearance for the club following open-heart surgery that he had in the summer. There is, arguably, no player that John Mousinho would rather have back right now but, at some point, if the injuries keep flowing, any squad is going to get into the red zone, and at that point who is fit doesn't matter as much.

That is exactly what is happening with Portsmouth right now.

John Mousinho confirms Conor Shaughnessy injury blow

Shaughnessy, another key cog in Mousinho's system, has been ruled out for at least another six weeks after picking up another knock. The boss confirmed this at his pre-Blackburn Rovers press conference. Pompey will go to Ewood Park on Saturday to face the sixth best home team in the division.

Prior to the club's first win after making their Championship return, away against Queens Park Rangers in mid-October, Mousinho revealed that Shaughnessy was going to be out for four-to-six weeks following the diagnosis of a tendon problem in his calf.

The muscle has been the main cause of his absences this season, but this time it's the other calf that he has injured.

"We're being cautious with him at the minute," said Mousinho on Shaugnessy and his injury to BBC Radio Solent.

"We're scratching our heads as to that one because it was one of those injuries where we thought he'd be back quickly, he came back into the side for the Sheffield United game, he pulled out in the warm-up and he's picked up another injury again.

"We're devastated about that one. We're really, really frustrated for Shaughs as well, and, yeah, it's a big blow for us going forward."

The 28-year-old, who played all but one league game for the League One winners last season, has only featured twice since the club's promotion, and that was in their first two games versus Leeds United and Luton Town.

Portsmouth have shown an ability to overcome frustrating injury issues

The manager, the players, the medical staff and everyone else at Fratton Park must be bewildered by how long this injury crisis has gone on. Portsmouth have picked up these lengthy injuries ever since the first few months of last season.

They are in a much stronger division now than the one they were in last season, which makes their current woes feel even worse, but they at least have last season, where they managed to win the league with so many fitness problems, to fall back on.

For much of the previous campaign, it was another of Pompey's pivotal defenders, Regan Poole, that was out of action. The 26-year-old injured his anterior cruciate ligament (knee) just over a year ago against Chesterfield in the FA Cup.

He is now back to full fitness, but he didn't play another game for the rest of 2023/24 after that first round matchup, and yet his team still went on to finish first in their division.