Pompey boss John Mousinho is mulling over which of his new recruits to pitch into battle against Barnsley this weekend.

Having signed defender Di'Shon Bernard and winger Paddy Lane on deadline day, the head coach must now decide whether they start against the Tykes or wait on the bench.

As he weighs up his options, Mousinho has been talking about how good a side Pompey will be facing when the sixth-placed Tykes come to town - and who is still NOT at his disposal.

Mousinho told the Pompey website: 'I went to watch them (Barnsley) against Oxford on Wednesday night and they’re an excellent side — they thoroughly deserved the victory. They’re well drilled and Michael Duff has them playing some excellent football. After coming down from the Championship, they’re looking to push straight back up.'

But Mousinho is without several injured players - although he does state that the treatment room is starting to become less busy.

The head coach said: 'Joe Rafferty has trained with us fully this week, which is great news, although I’m not entirely sure whether he’ll be in contention for the weekend. We certainly don’t want to rush him — we’re another week closer and that’s the most important thing.

'Clark Robertson and Jay Mingi are coming along nicely, although I think Ronan Curtis is closer than those two and we could possibly have him back for Burton. We took Tom Lowery through some testing protocols earlier in the week and he came through them well.

'It’s just about making sure that he’s comfortable before returning and most of the time we have to protect the players from themselves.'

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