The in-form Northern Ireland international has started the League One leaders’ last 10 league matches
Pompey might consider a new hire. Josh Martin, who suffered a blow to his injury, for being an incentive to attack.
After Paddy Lane had to withdraw from Northern Ireland’s training camp last week due to an apparent torn calf, the injury has now been identified.
The 22-year-old was forced to leave the game in the 87th minute when his team was leading 2-1, as the problem first surfaced during the Blues’ tie with Charlton.
John Mousinho has ruled him out of Saturday’s match against Blackpool, bringing an end to the prolific winger’s run of ten straight League One starts.
The head coach of Pompey also anticipates that Lane will be out for up to two weeks.
Mousinho told The News: ‘Unfortunately, Paddy pulled out of the Northern Ireland squad and, on Monday, had a scan on his calf, which revealed a minor tear.
‘It’s highly unlikely he will feature at the weekend. It shouldn’t be too long that he’s out, but it’s slightly precautionary; we are looking at a couple of weeks.
‘He felt it towards the back of the Charlton game and thought he’d cramped up in his calf. We ended up bringing him off and didn’t see that being an issue, so he flew away to Northern Ireland.
‘Unfortunately, the scans revealed a little minor tear, so we have to be careful.
‘It’s a bit of a blow not having him available, but it’s one of those things we have to get on with. Thankfully, it’s nothing too major.’
Lane’s anticipated absence puts Martin in the frame for the right wing after last week joining on a short-term deal.
The 22-year-old hasn’t played a competitive match since February, when he was handed nine minutes off the bench against Derby during a loan spell with Barnsley.
Mousinho added: ‘We have plenty of options; that is probably Abu’s natural position; obviously, we have Gavin Whyte, while Josh Martin is coming into the fold now.
‘We brought Josh in off the back of the Tino Anjorin injury, but we have cover there as well, so there’s plenty of options in terms of what we can do on the right.
‘That’s the whole point of having a squad and making sure we have players that rotate around that spot.’
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