Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley has revealed an illness bug has swept through his Pompey squad, ruling players out of Boxing Day’s 0-0 draw at Exeter. The Hampshire club face the Blues at Fratton Park on Thursday evening.
Midfielder Jay Mingi and on-loan Tottenham striker Dane Scarlett were both sidelined for the game against the Grecians due to the bug unrelated to Covid, which affects the throat and head, as well as causing a fever.
In addition, defender Connor Ogilvie was unable to warm-up despite being named on the bench and Joe Morrell was also among the subs having only recently recovered, while Marlon Pack, Josh Griffiths and Colby Bishop were all in the side despite having been unwell.
"We’ve had some challenges for sure,” Cowley told the Portsmouth News. Dane Scarlett’s got a throat infection, so has Jay Mingi, I have changed the team about 15 times this week.
"Josh Griffiths wasn’t very well, Marlon Pack wasn't very well, Connor Ogilvie didn’t warm-up during the game because he deteriorated over the day. We would have used him, but only in extreme circumstances.
"Colby Bishop has been unwell, Joe Morrell didn’t train until Christmas, it has been difficult, it has been a challenge.
"I know the group, it’s a good group, it’s an honest group, and they could have easily used it as an excuse, particularly around the Christmas period. They are very professional and want to help the team and club.
"It seems to be three variants [of illness], those that have had Covid think it’s worse than that. It’s throat, head, a fever.
"I have some empathy for them, I had it at the beginning of the week, but was in work — and there is a difference between me being in work and able to play football.
"I was pretty poorly, then [brother and assistant manager] Nicky had it and then all the players got it. You know what it’s like, as soon as you travel on the coach and in the changing room, once one or two get it spreads like wildfire.”
Cowley is hoping to have players back before Thursday’s match and that no one else succumbs between now and then.
He added: "I said to them in there, those that are ill try to get better as quickly as they can — and those that are not ill try to stay away from those that have it.
"It has been an ever-changing situation and not easy to manage. Hopefully some will be back for Ipswich.”
Town boss Kieran McKenna revealed that there had been illness in the Blues squad ahead of the 3-0 Boxing Day victory over Oxford.
"We’ve had a little bit of unwellness in the camp,” he said. "So I thought there were a few in the first 15, 20 minutes finding their touch, finding their lungs, finding their legs and tactically getting to grips with the game.”
Meanwhile, Cowley has spoken about the future of on-loan Blues striker Joe Pigott, whose opportunities have been limited since joining Pompey in the summer.
Pigott has suggested he might look to move elsewhere in January unless he plays, despite Pompey insisting on Town having no recall clause in the season-long deal.
"We hope Joe doesn’t leave, we don’t want any of our players to leave,” he added.
"Our aim is to try to get better in the January period — and that’s what we’re focused on doing.
"It’s much easier to get better if you can keep your best players and add to them.
"I thought Joe did well against Exeter, his hold-up and link play was good, he brought others into the game, he was really intelligent with his movement. He did a good job for the team.
"He had a really good performance against Stevenage recently and we’ve been looking for the opportunity against the right opponent — and we felt Exeter was the right time.
"Joe certainly got some rough treatment [from Exeter], but that’s the nature of the number nine in League One.
"Joe needs to keep working. We know he has some super strengths in terms of his hold-up, link and goal threat, and he’s working really hard for the team against the ball. Those are things he needs to keep doing to stay in the team.”