Striker David Nugent believes ongoing injury problems have hampered his Portsmouth career. The 22-year-old says he has been injured for seven months after his £6million transfer from Preston North End and believes that he was mistaken for thinking he could play through the pain before he finally had an operation to repair a hernia last month.

He is now back in the Portsmouth squad and, despite still being without a Barclays Premier League goal, Nugent is ready to fight for a place in the first team as Pompey look to reach the FA Cup final with a semi-final against West Bromwich Albion at the start of next month.