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‘It doesn’t look good’: Portsmouth boss reeling after striker injury blow at West Ham John Mousinho admitted Thomas Waddingham’s injury ‘doesn’t look good’ after suffering a cruel fitness setback. And the Pompey boss was left frustrated by the manner of the striker’s ankle blow, after being on the receiving end of a ‘poor challenge’ from Ollie Scarles. Waddingham was forced off eight minutes after his introduction in the 3-1 loss at West Ham, as the Blues exited the Carabao Cup. It’s another setback for the Aussie who has seen his stay at Fratton Park decimated by injury to date, with Mousinho acknowledging the early signs are good over the extent of the issue. The Pompey boss said: ‘I really feel for him. ‘When he picks up a soft tissue injury we have to look at ourselves and think what have we done with the rehab and where have we been with building him up. ‘That’s on us, but I thought this one was doubly disappointing. ‘Wadds has come off worse off the back of that challenge. ‘The most important thing is Wadds and I’m gutted for him. ‘So we’ll deal with the consequences of the refereeing decision over the next couple of days, but it doesn’t look good. ‘The fact the lad has been out since August last year and has needed to come off after five minutes at West Ham at the London Stadium, that shows it must be something pretty serious. ‘I can understand how gutted he is, but we don’t know the extent of it yet. We can clearly see where the contact was made - and it doesn’t look good.’ Mousinho also took issue with a second-half challenge from Edson Alvarez on Zak Swanson he felt warranted a straight red card, with the Mexican receiving a caution. That was another issue he felt wasn’t dealt with correctly by referee Adam Herczeg, along with the Waddingham incident. Mousinho added: ‘It (the Alvarez tackle) is just a clear red card. ‘I’m not in the business of getting people sent off, but I saw it in real time and I’ve seen it back quite a few times. ‘It’s a really poor challenge and Swanny’s lucky he’s got his leg in the air, otherwise it’s a serious injury. ‘Wadds has worked so hard to get back fit. ‘So for him to limp off from a poor challenge right in front of the assistant is very disappointing. ‘I said that at the time, it’s not just something I’ve said afterwards. I try to be consistent with that. I thought at the time it was pretty poor and not dealt with.’