Portsmouth FC: John Mousinho urged to make Colby Bishop call v Swansea City | OneFootball

The striker was set to play against Millwall on Wednesday before the game was postponed.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Portsmouth FC will be hoping that their bad run of luck will come to an end on Saturday, and they will be able to play a game for the first time in three weeks.

It's been a bizarre few days for John Mousinho's side, who have missed out on the opportunity to face both Blackburn Rovers and Millwall since the international break ended due to factors completely out of their own control.

Their fixture at Ewood Park that was meant to be played on Saturday was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch as heavy rain hit the north-west strongly, while their scheduled clash with the Lions on Wednesday evening at Fratton Park was postponed due to a power cut.

Despite efforts to get the game on against Millwall, they were not able to proceed, and the match will be rescheduled. Therefore, Portsmouth are now gearing up for their 16th game of the campaign against Swansea City.

Mousinho urged to bring Colby Bishop into the starting XI

Pompey's supporters, players and staff will all be looking forward to getting back on the pitch after a three-week gap between their most recent game against Preston North End and their next against the Swans, and they will need to be at their best to get themselves off the foot of the table.

As they have missed out on matches, they have slipped further away from safety, and are now four points off Cardiff City, and picking up a point on Saturday is a must.

Football League World has asked their Portsmouth Fan Pundit, Miltos Ioannidis, for the one change that he would make from the starting XI that beat the Lilywhites at the start of November ahead of Saturday.

He gleefully told FLW: "It's just absolutely mental how it's been nearly three weeks since we last kicked a ball in that win against Preston.

"Right now, it feels like we are doomed as a club and we're never going to play a game again, but hopefully that is not the case, and we do have a game to play on Saturday.

"The one change that I would make for that compared to the game against Preston, would be Colby Bishop to come in to the team in place of Kusini Yengi, a change that was due to happen against Millwall but obviously didn't because the game never happened."

Miltos continued: "So, the one change would be for Bishop to come in. Before the Millwall match, John Mousinho had said that Bishop might not be fit to start the game yet, but obviously, he appeared in the starting lineup that never played the game.

"That means that he's ready to play, and so I would like to see him as the one and only change in place of Yengi."

Bishop made an instant impact on his return

After a fantastic season in League One in 2023/24, Bishop was looking forward to helping Portsmouth in their return to the Championship. However, after a pre-season scan revealed a "potential risk", the striker underwent heart surgery.

He missed the start of the campaign due to his recovery, before returning against Preston in a short cameo. It was an extremely emotional day at Fratton Park, and one that was capped perfectly by the 28-year-old when he converted a penalty in the 89th minute to secure a 3-1 win.

It was an incredibly important moment for Pompey, and they will be hoping that, despite missing out on playing twice already this week, they will not have lost the momentum that they gained from the victory, and they can look to make it back-to-back wins against Swansea on Saturday.

It will be an incredibly tough task against Luke Williams' side who beat Derby County on Wednesday evening 2-1, and if Bishop does start as he was meant to against Millwall, he will be hoping to give Portsmouth supporters even more to cheer and to show the Championship what it has been missing out on.