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Portsmouth boss John Mousinho urges caution as he plots Josh Murphy's first-team pathway The last time the 31-year-old played at Fratton Park was a 2-1 win over Blackburn on December 13, 2025 It was a surprise first-team return for Josh Murphy after a Fratton Park absence of eight months. Now, after a QPR cameo off the bench, John Mousinho is targeting keeping the talented winger on the pitch on a far more regular basis. Murphy was introduced in the 65th minute for Abu Kamara in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat, having last featured on home turf in December 2025 against Blackburn. After totalling just 16 appearances last season and undergoing a groin operation which kept him out of the entire pre-season friendly programme, the 31-year-old is now back in action. And with Pompey next in action at Lincoln (August 22), Mousinho is deliberating how best to continue easing Murphy back into his team. ‘I’m not sure what that looks like yet’ The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘I had mentioned that Josh was probably going to be back for the Lincoln game, so he was a week early. ‘Being able to see him out there on Saturday was brilliant. I thought he showed a lot of positivity, put in some brilliant balls, and there's only going to be more to come from Murph. ‘He’s now over that injury so it’s just a case of how we use him. The next part is probably slightly more than Saturday’s 25 minutes, I don’t know if that manifests itself with a start or coming on at half-time or maybe playing 40 minutes at some point in the game. ‘I’m not sure what that looks like yet, I’ll just check on him physically. We’ll just take everything on its merits with Josh, if he’s fit and ready to play then great. ‘The season before Josh played 42 games and was a massive part of everything that we did, so we will see how that one pans out. ‘I don’t think we’re going to approach handling him massively differently. It depends if Murph is in a good place or not.’ Brooke-Smith had started the match on the left wing, before being replaced by Ryan Kavuma-McQueen at half-time. To accommodate Murphy’s second-half introduction, Kavuma McQueen then moved over to the right wing on 65 minutes, allowing the former Cardiff man to thrive on his favoured flank. As for Brooke-Smith, who was handed his second successive start after arriving from Wellington Phoenix earlier this month, Mousinho was delighted with the 18-year-old’s contribution against Rangers. ‘Luke Brooke-Smith is way above expectations’ Mousinho added ‘I thought Luke was really energetic and lively. With him it’s just about getting a bit more output in the final third. ‘As a young lad, we expect probably less of him than what he is doing for us now, so he’s way above expectations. He is doing very, very well in training and was lively in Saturday’s game, so it's just about managing him. ‘You have to consider he’s such a young lad and this is his first real taste of a run of games in senior football. ‘I thought he did pretty well and gave us a load of energy on that left-hand side. Luke was also a big part of what we achieved in the first 25 minutes.’