Portsmouth’s Shaughnessy Sustains Calf Tear

Portsmouth defender Conor Shaughnessy will be sidelined for the remainder of 2024 following a new calf injury. He has made only two league appearances this season. The 28-year-old, who had been dealing with a calf issue this season, has now torn his other calf during a running session. Manager John Mousinho had anticipated his return after the international break, but the defender, who missed only one league match last season, is now not expected back until 2025. “Unfortunately we’ve had a bit of a setback with Conor,” Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent. “It’s really frustrating and we were hoping that he would maybe be back in training this week but he felt his other calf during straight line running about a week ago.” “He has a tear in the other calf now so we’re really devastated about that one and it’s a really frustrating one for Conor too, it’s a big blow for us and we’ve been left scratching our heads a bit as to how it happened.” The Portsmouth manager also stated that Shaughnessy’s recovery period would be a minimum of six weeks and that he sustained the injury prior to rejoining full training with the squad. Shaughnessy played in every match for Portsmouth last season, but has made only two appearances this campaign. Mousinho further disclosed that defenders Zak Swanson and Jacob Farrell are nearing their return to fitness, though Jordan Williams is expected to be unavailable for an additional four weeks. An update was also provided on striker Colby Bishop, who made his anticipated return from heart surgery before the international break, scoring in a substitute appearance. “Naturally Colby would say he is ready to start,” Mousinho commented. “In this instance with the severity of the surgery, he’s not banging on the door to say that he’s definitely ready to start. “He knows how long it’s going to take him to get back into the fold but we’re really happy in terms of where he is right now, he’s still been out for a long time though and very little match exposure so with all of that in mind it’s maybe slightly too soon to see him.” Portsmouth’s next fixture is an away game against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday in the Championship.