Pompey boss knows Luton loanee will be 'frustrated' by a lack of game time
Hatters attacker has only started once since moving to Fratton Park
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has revealed that on-loan Luton striker Jacob Brown will understandably be ‘frustrated’ by his lack of match action since moving to Fratton Park.
The 27-year-old moved to the south coast until the end of the season back in January as he was handed a start for the 1-0 loss at Preston North End, taken off after 70 minutes of the contest, Since then, Brown has been on the bench ever since then, getting just over an hour of football combined in the five games he has come on for, left on the bench for the 2-1 defeat at Wrexham.
The Scottish international was brought on by Mousinho in Pompey’s trip to relegation rivals Blackburn Rovers on Saturday with 81 minutes gone, replacing Colby Bishop as the Luton loanee was involved in a Blues goal for the first time, when his cushioned header was thrashed into the net by Conor Ogilvie. However, the visitors let three crucial points slip from their grasp when conceding to Hayden Carter’s glancing header in stoppage time, as they are five points above the bottom three with 11 games to go.
Speaking to the Portsmouth News, the manager, who also signed Town winger Milli Alli during the January transfer window, the attacker making 11 successive starts since arriving, said of the ex-Stoke player: “It’s good for Browny to come on and have that impact. It’s pleasing we got the goal at that time - and then we should have just won the game. He’ll be frustrated at the lack of minutes, but, in the run of games where we’ve picked up a couple of wins away from home, Colby’s been excellent and Browny’s had to wait patiently and bide his time.
“Frustration is natural having only one start since he came in, but I thought he was pretty good against Preston when he started the game. It’s just a case of making sure he sticks with it and keeps going. Hopefully it gives a huge amount of confidence going forward. He’s had that input on Saturday and we’d like to see a huge amount more of it. We brought him on for Colby just to freshen things up. We’re asking a huge amount from the front four, particularly on the press. We ended up obviously moving Milli to the right-hand side, so sort of changed up the front four and looked for something else in the game.”
Before the trip to Ewood Park, then the forward, who played eight times at Kenilworth Road before making the move, and is yet to score in a senior game in over a year, last netting for the Hatters against Plymouth Argyle in February 2025, had been told to remain patient for his opportunity, as speaking once more to the Portsmouth News, the Blues head coach adding: “I think Jacob has done pretty well. It’s just a case of him being patient, we consider him (for the first-team) all the time.
“He came in and led the line well against Preston, then he came out after that because I thought Colby had been exceptional a couple of weeks before when he got that injury against West Brom. For the most part, Jacob did well against Preston and, when we decided to make the chance for Sheffield United, that was because Colby had been in such good form. I thought Colby was excellent against Sheffield United, the subsequent away games as well.
‘With Colby’s performances post-West Brom, he deserves to have that starting position. They are two very different number nines as well. If we think the game suits Jacob more than it suits Colby and vice versa we will make that decision. Colby at the moment is more than deserving of the shirt - as we have spoken about - he has put in some very, very good performances.
“I think Jacob is up to speed now, he has started a game and come off the bench four times as well. So I think he’s fine. He can get the goals, he has done that, he has done that in the past, it’s just a case of making sure we keep creating. Hopefully, when we do get a chance and it falls to anybody on the pitch, they put it into the back of the net.”