Paddy Lane: Portsmouth boss John Mousinho provides injury update on Northern Ireland international

The Pompey boss said judgement will be reserved until the forward goes for a scan – which is likely to be on Monday.

He suggested the injury might not be as bad as initially feared, but insisted the Blues would need to play it carefully with Lane.

The Northern Ireland international pulled up with the problem 35 minutes into the 2-2 draw with Port Vale. He was immediately replaced by Michael Jacobs, who went on to score Pompey’s equaliser in the dramatic Fratton Park encounter.

The game represented the January transfer deadline day arrival’s fourth consecutive start for his new club.

That run will likely come to an end now. And although Mousinho was adopting an optimistic approach, he insisted care must be taken.

Confirming the injury, the Blues head coach told The News: ‘It’s just a little hamstring tweak.

'It's unfortunate for Paddy - he's come back into the side and done really well.

'It's just one of those things. There's nothing much you can do about those, so we'll assess Paddy I think on Monday, send him for a scan and see how long he'll be out.

‘With hamstrings it can be anywhere from two to six weeks (out). It doesn't look too serious so we’ll hope for that two weekend one, but you have to be careful.

‘Hamstrings are nasty ones, I've had plenty of them in my time and you've got to make sure that you get it right.’

He added: ‘You need the scan, you need the assessment once things settle down.

‘Sometimes they feel terrible and then they settle down. Sometimes they don’t feel too bad and then they go the other way.

‘We'll leave it a couple of days and get back to you next week.’

Lane will join a Blues injury list that currently has Marlon Pack (knee), Ronan Curtis (knee) and Zak Swanson (groin) as members.

Jay Mingi sat out the draw with Vale. However, it’s not clear why he was absent.

Mousinho’s options were also impacted by Joe Pigott’s continued three-match ban and Joe Morrell and Dane Scarlett’s international commitments.