Portsmouth has scheduled the captain’s return to help in the promotion battle against Oxford United, Bolton Wanderers, Peterborough United, and other teams.

On November 25, the Blues captain should return to league action against Blackpool, according to manager John Mousinho.

Since sustaining ankle ligament damage at Wigan at the end of September—an incident that resulted in Charlie Wyke, the Latics’ striker, being dismissed—the pivot has been out of commission for more than four weeks.
“Marlon’s getting along really well; that Blackpool game is his current goal,” he stated.

Because of the international break, he has had some more time to work on the grass. We’re excited to have Marlon back because he’s been playing on the grass and doing great during his recovery.

Mousinho acknowledged Pompey now has to finish Pack’s rehab carefully and perhaps rein in the Buckland boy’s eagerness to play.
The head coach said other games could be considered to help the midfielder return, with Pompey completing their EFL Trophy group stage fixtures at Leyton Orient next week and a second round outing on the horizon at the start of next month.

Success in the FA Cup at Chesterfield would see a second round date over the first weekend in December.

Mousinho added, ‘You have to acknowledge he’s been out for six to eight weeks with a difficult injury.

‘We need to get him up to speed as quickly as possible, and a lot of that is going to be out on the training pitch. If we have other games we can get him into, that will be part of it, and getting him on as a sub, possibly.

‘Marlon will be frustrated with all of that, because he’ll want to be in the starting lineup the minute he’s back. I love that about him, but we’ll have to manage that and get him up to speed as quickly as possible—that’s up for us to judge when he’s ready to come back in.’