Pompey were desperate for inspiration, and a 20-year-old playing out of position for his Championship full debut gave it.
Unfortunately, the excellent Terry Devlin was unable to deliver the result the Blues so desperately needed against Sheffield Wednesday, but he did deserve a lot of praise from the Fratton fans. John Mousinho, the head coach who gave the Northern Irishman his first league start since January, praised the performance as ‘fantastic’.
Devlin had only returned to Pompey’s 20-man squad for QPR after missing six consecutive games.
Mousinho told The News: “Terry was great; his performance was excellent, especially given that it was his first Championship start and he was also playing out of position.”
‘I’m quite pleased with Terry’s contribution; he will continue to improve.
‘He returned to the team not due to injury; we had healthy players who could step in ahead of him against QPR and Cardiff.Terry returned to the side because he earned to. It’s about what he’s done in training; that’s how we run our business; we look at what players do every day in training and base our teams and squads on that.
‘I understand not everyone can see it, but Terry
He always does that and gives us all we need. By the time he returned to first-team action, Mousinho’s side had won League One, with the midfielder making an appearance off the bench in the final match against Lincoln. After fading after three appearances in the first four games of the season, he’s now back in the first-team fold, looking to make up for lost time.
Mousinho added: ‘He came in against Sheffield Wednesday and performed admirably; it was exactly what I anticipated from him.
‘I believe it is fair to say Terry was man of the match.’
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