Konopka Pompey stay ongoing

Keeper Chris Konopka with Michael Doyle and Gary Roberts. Picture: Joe Pepler

The 31-year-old American was last night handed a full 90 minutes in the Blues’ 2-2 draw at Salisbury.

His opportunity arrived following the return of Michael Crowe to Ipswich, while Paul Jones sat in the stands at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium as he awaits his comeback following injury.

Noel Hunt scored during his 45 minutes on pitch, while there was a new face on the bench in former Gillingham midfielder Amine Linganzi, although the triallist was unused.

However, right-back Chris Sessegnon has now left the Blues.

And Cook continues to cast his eye over alternatives ahead of the August 6 kick-off against Carlisle.

He said: ‘Chris has come in, we are looking at everyone to try to get better, although are disappointed we conceded two goals last night.

‘Him being here is ongoing, we wouldn’t have a date on how long a triallist is here for.

‘Michael (Crowe) has gone back to Ipswich and we wish him well.

‘He would like to be a number one and we respect that, going into our season we are going to keep our options open and keep looking.

‘Sessegnon has had his period with us and has gone to look for another club now and we wish him well.’

Disappointingly for Pompey, two goals conceded from corners prevented them from collecting a deserved victory last night.

It proved to be a weakness during last season’s sixth-placed finish and blighted an otherwise encouraging display from Cook’s side against Steve Claridge’s men.

The Blues boss added: ‘People will pick up on the negative side but we still haven’t addressed the corners yet, I think everyone knows that.

‘There are issues from corners and set-pieces, we still have Matt Clarke out injured and are still looking to bring a goalkeeper in.

‘The challenge is to make us better at both ends of the pitch.

‘We are all looking forward to a season which should be a really good, exciting campaign, season tickets are nearing 12,000, there are great games coming up and the optimism is rightly shared among everyone.

‘Our job is to make sure we back that optimism up.’