Portsmouth boss' 'integrity' pledge to Lincoln, Oxford United and Blackpool as he mulls over big team changes

John Mousinho is weighing up handing his fringe players a rare first-team opportunity at Lincoln - but pledged Pompey will still be a force.

The likes of Tom Lowery, Terry Devlin and Ben Stevenson have all recently returned from injury, yet so far been unable to break back into the squad.

In addition, Ryley Towler’s last outing was off the bench at Oxford United at the end of January, despite being available.

Pompey’s head coach admits all are under consideration for Saturday’s trip to Sincil Bank, which marks the end of their highly-successful League One campaign.

Yet while the Blues are already champions, much is riding on the game for Lincoln, who require three points to be certain of a play-off spot.

And Oxford United and Blackpool will have one eye on proceedings hoping Mousinho’s men can do them a favour.

Mousinho told The News ‘It has been a bit more normal than our approach to Wigan because we had those celebrations after the game on Tuesday night and then we didn’t get back into the building until Friday. Physically and mentally, I think the lads were completely drained.

‘This week in the preparation has been much better. We’ve had normal training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll be back into the building Friday and travelling to Lincoln.

‘Lincoln have a huge amount to play for and we will respect the integrity of the competition. Whatever our side, we are going to be strong and competitive, although we haven’t decided what that’s going to look like yet.

‘There are plenty of players who deserve a chance to play, but we don’t go off that, we go off on what we think is going to win a football game for us. We’ve done that throughout the season, trying to find the right balance.

‘We want players to be able to compete for the starting line-up and I genuinely think we have that, look at the players left out at the weekend as an example.

‘Tom Lowery has started a huge amount of games for us, Terry Devlin has made a real impact, while we know everything we need to know about Ryley Towler.

‘Josh Martin has done well for us and, while we’ve left Myles Peart-Harris out a couple of squads, he’s had a massive impact coming on loan.

‘I’m highlighting those players to really emphasise that, whatever side we pick, we’re going to be strong.’

Definitely missing are Zak Swanson and Anthony Scully, whose injury-hampered seasons continue.

Although the availability of Devlin is a surprise following a shoulder issue which was expected to rule him out for the remainder of the campaign.

Mousinho added: ‘Even when we’ve made 10 or 11 changes, we’ve had some excellent results.

‘At Chesterfield in the FA Cup, we started what might be perceived as the strongest XI. Then made 11 changes going into Tuesday night against Leyton Orient in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

‘We have 24 fit pros at the moment, including goalkeepers, so it has been difficult selecting squads over the past couple of weeks.’