Portsmouth XI pre-season friendly cancelled amid injury & player availability issues…
There are less than three weeks to go until Pompey kick-start their Championship campaign.
A Pompey XI friendly scheduled for Tuesday night has been cancelled.
And although it was unlikely that any first-team players would have been involved in the fixture, it nevertheless represents a blow to the Blues academy’s pre-season preparations ahead of the new campaign.
The youngsters were expected to face Wessex League premier division side Baffins Milton Rovers as they looked to bounce back from their defeat at Moneyfields on Saturday.
A Pompey XI side fell to a 2-0 defeat against the Moneys while the first team faced League Two Crawley Town in a quickly re-arranged behind-closed-doors fixture in Hilsea.
However, injuries and player unavailability in the visitor’s camp has put paid to the contest, which was set to take place at the PMC Stadium on Tuesday.
A statement from the non-league side read: ‘Our opponents have unfortunately informed us that they are unable to fulfil the fixture due to player availability and injuries. We’d like to wish Portsmouth Academy the best of luck for the upcoming campaign.’
The cancellation will no doubt come as a financial blow for Rovers, with such pre-season fixtures vital for non-league clubs.
That was seen on Saturday as 229 supporters watched the young Blues in action against Moneyfields, A bumper crowd was in attendance at the John Jenkins Stadium, with the kick-off delayed to allow for extra visitors.
That’s after Pompey’s first-team friendly against Crawley was called off due to a waterlogged pitch. Despite the contest at the Broadfield Stadium being postponed, John Mousinho’s men were able to get a crucial run-out, as they instead re-arranged the fixture to take place at the club’s training base.
Unlike the midweek triumphs over Woking and Farnborough, there was no academy involvement in the 1-0 victory against the League Two side.
Mousinho had utilised some of the young players during last week’s pre-season fixtures against non-league opposition.
Academy regulars Michael Ani, Jermaine Osifo, Chinedu Agu, Dane Bailey, Ciaran Martin all appeared in the 2-0 victory against Woking, while Beau Mullins, Chinedu Agu and 16-year-old Fraser Thomas all started against Farnborough 24 hours later.
And the Blues boss was pleased with the youth talent on show as they made the step-up to the first-team environment.
Mousinho told The News: ‘It was really important for them (academy players) to step up to the level and realise that first of all they haven’t got any time on the ball, there’s not a lot of space and when we do play and switch the ball quickly, sides like this with the physicality they displayed, the athleticism they showed they get on top of really quickly.
‘A good lesson and the young lads stood up to it really well to be honest considering It’s the second week of pre-season for them.
‘We’ve got some first years out there as well and that was really positive for the pikes of Fraser (Thomas), who has never set foot on a football pitch in a first-team environment before. Really happy with that.’
Baffins Milton Rovers are currently searching for an alternative fixture to be played at PMC Stadium on 22 July or 23 July
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