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Danny Cowley has explained his decision to give second-half substitute Ryan Tunnicliffe the nod over Jay Mingi during Pompey’s 3-2 defeat at Ipswich.

The former Luton midfielder replaced Joe Morrell in the Blues engine room just after the hour mark at Portman Road.

That’s despite appearing well down the pecking order at Fratton Park this season, with just two minutes of senior football to his name until today and Mingi making 10 appearances in all competitions before the trip to Suffolk.

Tunnicliffe’s future at PO4 has also been the subject of speculation in recent weeks, with teams in Australia linked with a move for the 29-year-old ahead of their transfer window deadline this month.

Meanwhile, former Charlton and West Ham youngster Mingi has certainly been showing he’s one for the future with all-action displays when handed the chance by Cowley.

Yet those facts were ignored when Tunnicliffe – involved in his first League One squad since the opening-day draw at Sheffield Wednesday – was asked to freshen up a Pompey midfield without injured duo Tom Lowery and Louis Thompson.

It raised a few eye brows at the time.

But at the final whistle, Cowley admitted a shin issue Mingi has been suffering from played a part in his decision.

Midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe made a surprise appearance for Pompey today during the Blues' 3-2 defeat at Ipswich.

When asked about the substitution by BBC Solent at the final whistle, the Blues boss said: ‘For us, Joe Morrell has come back from the Welsh camp with a flu and he was touch and go whether he was going to play.

‘We’re pleased that he did but probably we knew at 60 minutes (that he couldn’t continue).

‘Obviously, he suffers from asthma as well so when you have those types of symptoms it can make it doubly worse.

‘And Jay is a young player who, again, has got some issues with his shins.

‘He has compartment syndrome which is a challenge to him and he felt that in the warm-up.

‘So we were just conscious really of bringing him on so early in the game because if he went down that would give us a problem.

‘And you know what, Ryan has fought his way back into the squad, and credit to him, because he’s trained well. He played well against Chelsea in our behind-closed-doors game last week.

‘He’ll play again on Tuesday (against Aston Villa under-21s in the Papa John’s Trophy), and hopefully he’ll be able to get his season up and running.’

Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley explains surprise midfield substitute decision at Ipswich that saw promising former Charlton and West Ham youngster Jay Mingi overlooked