'Definitely harsh': Portsmouth boss' admission over defender's Fratton Park exit

John Mousinho has lifted the lid on the ‘harsh’ Pompey departure of Josh Dockerill.

The promising defender sustained ACL damage to his right knee and also tore his meniscus in a horror injury in a friendly against Gosport in July 2023.

At the time, the 18-year-old had been involved inbeing part of the squad in John Mousinho’s first-team set-up, including attending the pre-season tour to Malaga.

Having just signed one-year professional terms, it was a cruel blow to Dockerill, who thankfully has now returned to training.

However, despite ruled out for the entire season and not kicked a ball since his injury, he was among 10 players released by Pompey last week.

And Mousinho admits the decision - and its circumstances - was a tough one.

He told The News: ‘It’s definitely harsh, but it’s just separating what’s harsh and what’s not.

‘We feel okay about that because we also know that with the contacts we’ve got, say Robbie (Blake) at Bognor for example who is a really big fan of Josh, that’ll get a football club. A good football club like that where he can progress and try to work his way back up the league.

‘I am not saying that’s the only football club Josh can go to, it’s an example, but we know there are clubs out there for him.

‘’He’s been injured, but we thought we could make Josh’s assessment based on what we know about him, based on what we saw last season - and it was also a tough one because we made that step up.

‘An ideal season for Josh this year would have been to go out on loan after pre-season, probably had a good half-season, and then maybe stepped up a level in January. Then we could have monitored him and seen how he’s done to earn a new contract.

‘Unfortunately he hasn’t been able to do that and we’ve gone up a level. It’s one of those that is harsh, it’s not nice, but we’ve got to face the reality of what some of these young lads have to go and do.’

Dockerill, who made his first-team debut as a substitute against AFC Wimbledon in the Papa John’s Trophy in November 2022, previously enjoyed a loan spell at the Rocks at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Crucially, however, Pompey’s promotion to the Championship means it has impacted on his Fratton Park future.

Mousinho added: ‘Possibly if we had remained in League One the decision might have been different.

‘But now we’re making the step up into the next level and we felt comfortable making that choice, based on what we know about Josh.’