The Tigers host Pompey, looking to return to winning ways after Tuesday’s loss at Derby County
Portsmouth’s influential winger Josh Murphy is a doubt for Saturday’s meeting with Hull City at the MKM Stadium, as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Murphy had missed six Pompey games before making his first start in two months on Wednesday night in their 0-0 draw at Fratton Park against Wrexham, his third appearance since returning.
The Blues’ star man was by far and away the biggest threat on the night as the South Coast outfit ended a run of three straight Championship defeats.
As Pompey nurse Murphy back to full fitness, John Mousinho admits it’s unlikely at this stage that the 30-year-old former City target will be in a place where he can start a second game in three days, having played the full 90 minutes against the Welsh outfit.
“I think we’ll find out a little bit more tomorrow (Friday). At the minute, and my gut reaction post-game is probably not because of the length of time he spent on the pitch,” Mousinho said.
“We decided to keep Josh on because we definitely thought he was our most attacking player, and the game was there. I don’t know but we’ll take a view on that tomorrow morning.
“You can tell what a good professional he is, coming back and being able to play like that straight away with that intensity, that level of detail in his press, the amount of explosiveness in his game.
“I thought he gave whoever he came up against a real tough time. Josh naturally will always perform like that and give everything for this football club.”
In a similar fashion to what City are dealing with when it comes to players of their own that have suffered from injury, Mousinho admits he must manage his star man’s minutes.
“Yeah, it’s always a factor (managing a player after an injury). We’ve managed him back in I suppose. We had him back in for the Stoke game; he had a full week’s worth of training ahead of the Birmingham game as well. ‘It was one of those ones where we have managed him through that anyway, so we’ll just see what it looks like tomorrow.”
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