JOHN Mousinho admits he "worried" for Sammy Silvera after Portsmouth's fans turned on the winger - and instantly decided it was best to bring his loan spell to an end after his difficult day at Bristol City.

Silvera was due to spend the full season at Fratton Park but endured a tough spell on the south coast, which led to Portsmouth's fans singing for him to be "sent back" to Boro during last month's heavy defeat at Bristol City.

The Aussie flanker didn't feature again for Pompey, with Mousinho admitting he took the loanee out of the firing line after the criticism, which he felt was undeserved.

Portsmouth and Middlesbrough officials both agreed that it was best to cut short Silvera's loan spell, with the winger instead linking up with League One Blackpool for the second half of the season.

"We had a sensible conversation with Middlesbrough about what was best for Sammy and, after the Bristol City game, both parties thought it was the best thing for Sammy to go back," Mousinho told the Portsmouth News.

"It’s very difficult off the back of that (supporter reaction) as a player and then as a coach. If I’m looking at that as a coach, I worry about the negative implications of involving Sammy again for his own sake - and we have to look after him as a player.

"I don’t think he deserved any of that, but I don’t necessarily think that would stop it from happening again.

"You certainly have to look at a player’s confidence and a player’s well-being when you’re taking into account all of the questions which you need to answer.

"I thought Sammy dealt with it unbelievably well considering. I spoke to him the next day, he'd had a tough time, he had taken it on board.

"Any opinion that anybody wants to have on a player is absolutely fine, but our form this year isn’t Sammy’s fault, the Bristol City game wasn’t Sammy’s fault."

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Mousinho was thrilled to land Silvera on loan in the summer having previously tried to sign the winger when he joined Boro from Central Coast Mariners in the summer of 2023. And despite his difficult spell at Fratton Park, Portsmouth's boss is backing Silvera to put the testing loan behind him.

He said: "I am sure Sammy would have wanted to be involved a lot more, but he hadn't stopped trying, he hadn’t stopped working, he certainly hadn’t downed tools. He was still working for the football club regardless of what you think of his performances.’

"We hadn’t used him a huge amount in recent weeks and sometimes loans and permanents don’t quite work out.

"Sammy certainly showed glimpses of what he was capable of and I know he’s going to go on and do well elsewhere. But I just think at the moment, in terms of where we are, it was the sensible decision for both clubs.

"I know that he’ll go on to have a successful career."