Portsmouth

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth have further subsidised the cost of coach travel for fans heading to the 'high risk' south coast derby at Southampton on 14 September.

The fixture will be the first between the sides at St Mary's in more than 13 years with the only more recent meeting between the bitter rivals an EFL Cup tie at Fratton Park six years ago.

Blues fans must use club-managed travel to get to and from St Mary's for the 12:00 BST Sunday kick-off and the club have decided to cover the full damage insurance costs for coach operators rather than passing the cost on to fans.

A club statement, external said: "We are conscious of the high cost of attending this much anticipated contest for our supporters.

"The price of travelling to the game has been exacerbated by damage insurance costs for coach operators for what is a high-risk fixture.

"The club had already absorbed the cost of the added facilities that are required, as well as a proportion of these damage insurance costs, but after careful consideration we have decided to subsidise these additional damage insurance costs in full."

The move will drop the price of coach travel down £4.50 per person to £18.

Tom Chappell
Fan writer

Image source, Rex Features

Pompey were good value for, and fully deserved, their point at The Hawthorns.

A magical Josh Murphy ball with postage stamp delivery for Colby Bishop, a first-class combination that is just vintage John Mousinho's Pompey.

One of the best headers I've seen the man with the magic hat score in a Pompey shirt, and probably Pompey's best performance of the season.

I remember making the same walk out of the away end at The Hawthorns in January completely dejected and pitying what Pompey had served up that day.

This weekend we departed with real optimism and plenty of signs of progress to take.

Much may be made of the refereeing performance from a Baggies point of view - there's respective arguments for both a penalty against Pompey and a second yellow for Regan Poole.

Pompey were completely luckless with decisions from officials for a large part of last season so it's pleasing to see that somewhat fall our way.

After the goal, the substitutions positively impacted proceedings, with Luke Le Roux's introduction in particular catching the eye.

This Pompey squad is providing us with evidence that it is good enough to compete with some of the league's better sides away from home.

Take any away game last season, and without wishing to constantly compare and contrast, nine times out of 10 at 1-1 away from home Pompey would come away with absolutely nothing to show from the game.

This weekend, and a fortnight ago at the Kassam, the boys dug in, stayed switched on and ultimately emerged with the point.

Belief is often a keynote to Mousinho's press conferences, and if we can get that mindset right then we could well be competing with interest sooner rather than later. We've certainly got the talents on the pitch to do it.

There may be few teams who travel to West Brom and get anything from there this season - and depending on how the campaign develops, that point could prove to be even bigger than it already feels.

The countdown begins for one of the most anticipated away fixtures of this club's recent history - before that, an inaugural home league win would round off a more than acceptable opening month of Pompey's 25-26 season.

Find more from Tom at the Fournilwrittenalloverit, external YouTube channel

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Rex Features

John Mousinho said he doesn't want to keep referring back to last season but a day like Saturday does highlight the progress his side have made away from home.

Yes, the marginal refereeing decisions went Portsmouth's way. On another day Regan Poole could have been sent off and after a tight penalty decision went against Connor Ogilvie last week, this time one went in his favour.

West Brom had control at times but chances were fairly even at both ends. Josh Murphy and Colby Bishop remain key for Portsmouth and combined for a fine goal. For Pompey to have a great season, others will need to step up in front of goal as well.

Luke Le Roux was full of energy in midfield after coming off the bench for a league debut and must be pushing for a start next week.

Championship leading goalscorer Isaac Price will look to add to his goal tally as West Bromwich Albion put their 100% winning start to the season on the line against Portsmouth on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Portsmouth's one win so far this season came away from home at Oxford United so John Mousinho's side can be encouraged by visiting The Hawthorns.

• West Brom are unbeaten across their last eight home league games against Portsmouth (W6 D2), since a 3-0 defeat at The Hawthorns in February 1998.

• Portsmouth have failed to win any of their last four league games against West Brom (D2 L2), last enduring a longer such run against the Baggies between 1987 and 1994 (nine games).

• West Brom have won each of their last three league games and will be looking to win four on the bounce for the first time since September 2024.

• Portsmouth have won two of their last three away league games (D1), one more than across their prior 16 fixtures on the road combined (D2 L13).

• Isaac Price has scored three goals in West Brom's opening two league games so far this season and boasts the league's fourth-highest non-penalty expected goals (xG) total (1.3).

Portsmouth are to set to complete a deal for former Peterborough defender Josh Knight, 27, from German club Hannover 96. (Pete O'Rourke, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Thursday's gossip column here.

Callum Lang is expected to be out for around six weeks with the hamstring injury which saw him limp off against Norwich, Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has confirmed.

The news on the 26-year-old former Wigan and Oldham forward is better than the club had feared, Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent, though they were still waiting on a second opinion.

"it's not as bad as we initially feared," he said. "Having spent about three months on the sidelines last time, we are hopeful Callum is going to be about half of that.

"On the pessimistic side, six to eight weeks, on the optimistic side four to six weeks. If we can land somewhere within that range we'll be pretty happy."

Mousinho admitted it was "not ideal" to lose Lang after a bright start to the campaign, adding: "It's one of those things that's very frustrating, having started the season so well, but it's something we just have to deal with.

"We'll miss him. We missed him at the back end of last season as well. Since he's been in the building Callum has been terrific. We have to learn how to live life without him.

"Callum's fine, he probably feared the worst when he first had the injury, I think he thought it was going to be a bit worse than it was but he's pretty optimistic at the minute."

Mousinho was talking ahead of Saturday's trip to West Bromwich Albion, and covered other topics too:

• "We won't comment on players contracted to other clubs."

• "Not necessarily targeting a defender - it's not an area we are prioritising."

• "Slim chance we get someone in this week but nobody ready to play on Saturday."

• "Two or three more signings before the end of the window is the aim."

• "West Brom are a really good side. Ryan Mason had a very good start to his coaching career."

• "We want more from Adrian Segecic, there's plenty more to come. It's been a decent start but push on."

• "Same squad as the Norwich game with the exception of Lang."

Click here to listen to John Mousinho's full interview via BBC Sounds.

Jordan Williams hopes his hamstring problems are behind him after enduring an injury-blighted first season at Fratton Park.

The 25-year-old right-back moved to Portsmouth last summer after leaving Barnsley but three separate hamstring injuries restricted him to just 20 Championship appearances in his first season.

Williams missed eight games with a hamstring tear either side of Christmas and after just three games back, suffered another which ruled him out of the next 10 matches.

He returned to make four starts in April but missed out on the final two matches after limping off with a third hamstring injury in the win over Watford on 21 April, after which he underwent platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment to tackle the issue.

After starting Pompey's opening two matches of the new season, Williams told BBC Radio Solent: "It's good to be back, hopefully the injuries are behind me and I can keep playing football and enjoying it."

Explaining the PRP procedure, he said: "You can't feel the benefit of it but you can visualise it as gluing it back together basically and, touch wood, so far it's felt alright and hopefully it can carry on.

"It's taking the good blood cells out of your blood, spinning them and putting them back into the muscle or the tendon that's been injured. It acts like a bit of a gel to put them back together and make them stronger.

"It repairs fully anyway, naturally, without even having that, but that's meant to make it even stronger so we went down that route and hopefully it has done that so far."

Click here for more from Jordan Williams' interview with BBC Radio Solent, including a look ahead to the clash with West Brom, via BBC Sounds.

"Beating Oxford United didn't mean they were going to win the league, and losing to Norwich doesn't mean they're going to be relegated. It was just another reminder that the Championship is tough."

What went wrong in the opening 15 minutes for Portsmouth against Norwich? Adam Virgo joins Chris Wise and Andy Moon to break down the disappointing start and frantic end to the match.

There's also a look at the transfer window and of course your questions answered in Moon's Musings.

Listen to the full episode of Who Needs Mourinho and more on BBC Sounds.

Australian forward Adrian Segecic has grabbed his opportunity since joining Portsmouth, according to team-mate Josh Murphy.

The 21-year-old has scored two goals in the club's opening two Championship matches this season having signed from Sydney FC in June.

"Segs is a really good guy around the place and a live wire on the pitch - he's got back-to-back goals and I've said to him, 'Just keep going,'" Murphy told BBC Radio Solent.

"He's the player who has come in and grabbed his opportunity, and hopefully he's going to be a mainstay in the team, and propel us to where we want to be."

Portsmouth followed their opening day win at Oxford United with a 2-1 home defeat by Norwich City on Saturday, but Murphy said his link-up with Segecic is a major positive from those two games.

"The partnership has been building in pre-season, so I'm looking forward to building on that with him, and he's going to be one the fans love," added Murphy.

"I wish more players in the team could back themselves like Segs does as we've got a fantastic squad - he's got that confidence where he wants to get on the ball, and when we don't have the ball he's one of those who rats around, so he's a great addition to the team."

Portsmouth continue their Championship campaign at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, 23 August (15:00 BST).

Listen to Portsmouth pre- and post-match interviews and the podcast Who Needs Mourinho? on BBC Sounds.

Tom Chappell
Fan writer

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Pompey started badly and only really recovered when it was too late on Saturday.

When you consider Regan Poole's miss from five yards out, John Swift's devastatingly unlucky rebound from the crossbar and Colby Bishop's penalty misfire, a point was perhaps not beyond the realms of possibility.

While Pompey can have no complaints about the result, ultimately giving ourselves too much to do with less than 15 minutes on the clock, we edged back into the game in the first half and looked the better side in the second.

The two Norwich goals are a delight if you're on the scoring end, and a really painful watch if you are the side defending them. It's the 'blink and you'll miss it' factor of the Championship, two well worked set-pieces and all of a sudden you're on completely the wrong end of the scoreline on home soil.

Mousinho speaks about it at length during his press conferences, the notion of thinking you've got it cracked at this level is redundant, because as soon as you starting thinking that, this division has a funny way of telling you that you haven't.

There's loads of lessons and plenty to take from Saturday's game. Josh Murphy lacked his usual eye-for-goal prowess, Callum Lang's injury will leave Portsea Island and those around the world who bleed blue holding their breath, and Adrian Segecic looks to be a complete sensation. Back-to-back league goals is only the start for that young man.

Colby's conversions from the spot stand at 18 out of 23. Albeit he has missed a few recently, many of the top strikers on the planet miss penalties, and moreover miss big chances. It happens.

For a man whose return to the side in November last year provided a single-handed pivot towards survival, something that simply wouldn't have been achieved without his immense input, questioning his effectiveness is preposterous. He's still the best man for the job.

Pompey travel to the West Midlands next weekend with last season's rout by West Brom remaining fresh in the memory. A point, or anything more, would be a successful afternoon's work.

Find more from Tom at the Fournilwrittenalloverit, external YouTube channel

Image source, Getty Images

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho shared his frustration at his side's defending and performance as they lost to Norwich City on Saturday.

The Blues conceded two goals from set pieces in the first half and despite scoring late were unable to come away with anything.

"I'm really disappointed with the result," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"There's a lot to unpack, there wasn't a huge amount in the game apart from being really poor around some of the set pieces, I think we lacked some belief coming into the game.

"We apologetically defended the first one to allow (Harry) Darling to have a free header in the box and that isn't good enough.

"We end the game scratching our heads as to why we didn't get an equaliser, there is definite contact in the late challenge on Connor Ogilvie, It's a definite penalty and I'll speak to the referee and find out why he didn't give it."

One moment of concern for Mousinho will be around the fitness of attacker Callum Lang.

The 26-year-old appeared to go down clutching his hamstring before being substituted in Saturday's game against Norwich.

"Callum Lang felt his hamstring so we will see, let's hope it isn't too serious as it would be a massive blow if we lose him."

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

A reminder for Portsmouth this afternoon that one poor 15 minute spell is often enough to lose in the Championship.

Despite a frantic finale they couldn't recover from those sloppy opening moments.

It looked like a bad day all round for Pompey but Adrian Segecic's late strike and 10 minutes added time created a grandstand finish.

The Blues were close to an equaliser numerous times, Connor Ogilvie was left mystified as to how he was booked for diving when he thought he should have had a penalty.

Injuries were the bane of John Mousinho's life last season and he faces a nervous wait for Callum Lang's hamstring to be scanned.

A lengthy time out would be a huge blow given how he's started the season.

Norwich City visit Portsmouth on Saturday (12:30 BST) hunting for their first win of the season.

The Canaries lost to Millwall on the opening weekend of their Championship campaign as they began life under new boss Liam Manning.

Portsmouth, however, beat Oxford United for an opening away win - something that proved a rarity last season - and will be hoping to rebuild the Fratton Park fortress that served them so well last season after a midweek home cup loss to Reading.

• Portsmouth beat Norwich City 5-3 in their last league meeting and will be looking to win successive games against the Canaries for the first time since April 1969 (run of four).

• Norwich City are unbeaten across their last three away league games against Portsmouth (W1 D2) and could remain four unbeaten for the first time in the Football League.

• Portsmouth haven't lost their opening home game in any of the last 11 league campaigns (W6 D5) since a 1-4 loss to Oxford in League Two in 2013-14, although they have kicked off each of the last three league seasons on home soil with a draw.

• Norwich have won their opening away game in just one of the last eight league campaigns (D3 L4), failing to do so in any of the last four seasons since a 1-0 win at Huddersfield in the Championship in 2020-21.

• Across their Championship away games last season, Norwich netted just 19 goals in total – their fewest at this level since 2007-08 (also 19).

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho says his side need to shift their focus back to the league after they were beaten 2-1 by Reading in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Pompey will run out at Fratton Park for the first time this season when they host Norwich on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Mousinho is hoping they can continue their winning Championship start after a 1-0 victory at Oxford United on the opening weekend, courtesy of an Adrian Segecic goal.

"It was really important that we got back in and just got over it very quickly, we've got Norwich at the weekend and we need to move on to that," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"It should be a very good clash- they (Norwich) are definitely one of the early top six favourites. I expect a really good team to come to Fratton Park.

"Something we have to be better at is not just controlling games for 50-60 minutes but also going [well] towards the back end of the game, and don't invite too much pressure."

Listen to the full interview and more on BBC Sounds.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho says he expected a lot more from his starting XI during their 2-1 EFL Cup loss to Reading.

Only attacking midfielder John Swift remained from the side's winning Championship start against Oxford United on Saturday and Mousinho feels that the remaining players will struggle to get minutes in the first half of the new season after their losing performance at Fratton Park.

"We made a lot of changes but I still expect a lot more from the 11 than what we did (see)," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"You want to have selection headaches going into the weekend and it was a very good chance for those players to show us what they were capable of.

"All of a sudden now, we've just got the league to concentrate on right up until January - no cup games, so no other opportunities for players to get minutes and that's disappointing."

Listen to the full post-match interview with Mousinho and more on BBC Sounds.

"I'm never sure about Callum Lang on the right wing... he was absolutely magnificent."

Chris Wise and Andy Moon reflect on Portsmouth's opening-day win against Oxford United, who played a starring role, and where the side still need to strengthen in the transfer window.

Listen to the full episode of Who Needs Mourinho and more on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth will be without midfielder Marlon Pack for at least six weeks as he needs surgery on a knee injury.

The 34-year-old missed Saturday's season-opening 1-0 win at Oxford in the Championship after sustaining the injury in a pre-season friendly against Brighton under-21s on 30 July and boss John Mousinho has confirmed he needs an operation.

"He's going in for surgery tomorrow [Tuesday] so we're pretty positive on it - in the best case scenario he'll be back in six weeks so it's not too bad," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"We probably feared the worst at the end of last week - we're pretty pleased with that as an outcome."

Pack started his career with Portsmouth and re-joined the club from Cardiff City in 2022, playing a key role in their League One title win in 2024.

"We have to wait until he's had the surgery just to double check but we're pretty hopeful," added Mousinho.

"We knew he wasn't fit and available on Friday but he was definitely going to travel with the boys and was a big part of what we achieved on Saturday.

"I almost guarantee he'll be on the bus up to West Brom [next weekend] even though he won't be fit."

Portsmouth host Reading in the first round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday (19:45 BST).