Season-ending injury confirmed for 10-goal top-scorer as Leeds United visit beckons
Leeds United head to Fratton Park in just over two week’s time.
Portsmouth will be without Callum Lang for next month’s game against Leeds United with manager John Mousinho confirming a season-ending injury for his top-scorer.
Lang was forced off mid-way through the second half of Portsmouth’s 2-0 win at Oxford United on Saturday with a hamstring injury, the severity of which was unclear at the time. Mousinho was initially unable to put any timeframe on the 26-year-old’s recovery.
But further assessment has revealed the extent of Lang’s injury, with a hamstring tear likely to keep him out for the final 13 games of the season. Portsmouth face Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town over the next 10 days before welcoming Leeds to Fratton Park on March 9.
“Not great news on Callum. The scan has come back, as we suspected, with a hamstring tear,” Mousinho told The News ahead of his side’s weekend meeting with QPR. “We're going to re-scan it in about 10 days just to see how it's settled down. There's a lot of fluid there at the moment.
“Most likely, we're not going to see Callum in a Portsmouth shirt until next season. It’s a bit of a strange one because after the game, he was okay. He was up and about. He's still actually up and about now. It's not really affecting him a huge amount, but just the nature of it and the location of the injury means it's going to be a long one.”
Lang’s absence is a huge blow for a Portsmouth side still fighting to survive, with his 10 goals double that of any other squad member - Josh Murphy and Colby Bishop have five each. Two of the forward’s tally came in that chaotic opening-weekend 3-3 draw at Elland Road, with his 92nd-minute penalty looking to have won it before Brenden Aaronson’s even later equaliser.
Former Leeds defender Conor Shaughnessy is also expected to miss the visit of Daniel Farke’s side due to a similar injury picked up in his side’s 2-1 win over Cardiff last week. The 28-year-old is facing up to two months out of action, while Lang joins Ibane Bowat, Paddy Lane and Jacob Farrell in being ruled out for the season.
“We can't really blame anyone – but there’s reason to apportion some of it to the fact that it was such a stop-start game [vs Oxford] with all the stoppages and players going in and out,” Mousinho added of Lang’s season-ending injury. “When that happens, you do get the muscular injuries, particularly with where the pitches are at the moment.
“So, both sides have picked up a very, very similar injury. I wasn't happy with it at the time because hamstring injuries can be like that, but after the game, I was a bit more positive than I was on Shocks [Shaughnessy’s] one because of how the players were moving.”
Focus at Leeds and Portsmouth will of course be on the short-term and this weekend’s action, with both having to play two games before meeting next month. Farke’s side are due at Bramall Lane for a massive Yorkshire derby against Sheffield United on Monday, with West Brom next weekend’s visitors to Elland Road.