John Mousinho's message to Portsmouth defender who faces uncertain Fratton future amid heartbreaking injury set-back

The highly-regarded defender damaged the ACL in his right knee and also tore his meniscus at Gosport in July, representing only a third outing of a promising pre-season.

Having undergone an operation last month, John Mousinho doesn’t believe the 18-year-old will play again this campaign.

Hailing from Camberley, Dockerill had progressed through the Academy ranks to be handed professional terms after graduating at the end of last season.

The defender will be out of contract next summer, sparking other concerns, in the meantime Mousinho is advising him to concentrate on his rehabilitation.

The Blues’ head told The News: ‘In terms of whether we get Josh back towards the end of the season, sadly it’s most likely not.

‘With these injuries you want to make sure the chance of retearing that ACL is as low as possible – and the best way to do that is to make sure it’s at the back end of the nine months.

‘Josh is coping really well considering he’s an 18-year-old who has come into the first-team environment and torn his ACL in his 3rd appearance. It was a tough one,

‘He might be looking beyond this season and I won’t sit here and say he definitely shouldn't, it’s impossible for human beings to not, but certainly his focus just needs to be on the here and now, getting fit.

‘After knee surgery it’s a really important spell because it has a knock-on effect for how quickly you manage to rehab and how swiftly you manage to get back on the grass.

‘It’s really important he does all his rehab work and gets back as quickly as possible, so hopefully his focus is in the here and now.

‘The contract is the sort of thing which always plays on people’s minds, but if he gets back strong and gets back fit, then he’s got more chance of either getting a contract here or elsewhere, depending on what that looks like.

‘Currently we don’t want to cross that bridge at all, we’ll see where that is in the summer and go from there.

‘It’s too early from both points of view. We don’t want him thinking about it – and we haven't paid any consideration to it either.’

Dockerill had attended the Blues’ training camp in Malaga, Spain, earlier this summer, impressing the coaching staff.

He subsequently faced Europa FC, the Rocks and then Gosport before his injury, largely operating at right-back.

Mousinho added: ‘Up until his injury, Josh had performed really well, bright and buzzing around the place, making a really good impression.

‘It was everything we expected of him because he also spent time with the first-team at the back end of last season.

‘Most likely we were looking for Josh to go out on loan and see where that took us. We were never going to rule anything out, but that was the most likely pathway.’