Pompey defender Regan Poole speaks with Express FM’s David Howes about his season in a Blues shirt and his targets for the future.
The Portsmouth centre-half has featured 40 times in all competitions this season, racking up well over 3,000 minutes for John Mousinho’s side.
Poole has only missed 2 games in the EFL Championship all campaign, the most he has played in a season in his entire career.
On how he has found his third full season at Pompey, Poole said: “Challenging, it has been a tough season, very up and down, but in the end, we got the job done, which is the main thing.
“I love it down here, obviously I signed my new contract last year, so I am really happy to be here, hopefully for as long as possible.
“Looking to build on, in my opinion, what has been quite a successful 3 years, the injury was not ideal but I feel like I am progressing in a good way.
“I am really looking forward to next year, really, because I feel like I am going on an upwards trajectory and hopefully next year I can be back to my best.”
In the game that pretty much confirmed survival for John Mousinho’s side against Leicester City, Poole made an important block in the later stages of the tie, which stopped the Foxes from scoring a late equaliser.
“The back pass that followed was not great, but I knew in that moment, the game was massive because if they scored that, they would have been on the front foot.
“They would have been pushing, and at that moment was massive.
"I could not help but celebrate the way I did; I probably should not have (he laughed).
“That was such a pressurised, important game, which was not going great, It was a bit of a stop, start, slow game, which did not suit us.
“It was just relief, really, that I blocked it because there were three of them waiting at the back post, one of them is going to tap it in, so I just needed to do whatever I could to keep out the net.”
The Welshman has also had a number of different centre-half partnerships, with the likes of Conor Shaughnessy, Ibane Bowat, Hayden Matthews, Madiodio Dia, and even Connor Ogilvie.
“We have got quite a lot of centre-halves in the building, so for me to kind of be a mainstay in the team, I am really happy with how much I have played.
“I have played a lot of minutes this year, which was the main thing for me, with the quality of defenders we have actually got in the building.
“It does not matter who plays with me; I am happy to play alongside anyone.
“But they have all progressed and done really well, the future's looking bright for centre-halves at this place, but hopefully I can stay in the team for as long as I can for next year.”
With the younger defenders like Dia (22) and Matthews (21), who can certainly use Poole as an understudy, despite suffering an ACL injury in his first season at the club, he has racked up 81 appearances since 2023.
“It's nice, but weird as well, because I am one of the more experienced ones, I am still pretty young but I have experience, which is strange, but it's nice to be able to help them as much as I can.
“Hayden has been here a bit longer than Jojo, but I feel like I have helped a little bit along the way.
“It's always tough when he (Dia) is coming from a different country, and you do not know the league, and I think he was a little bit shocked at the quality of the league when he came over.
“And I think, you know, he has come into the team at a crucial time and done really well, so credit where credit's due to him.”
One of the two league games that Poole has had to miss was the south coast derby at Fratton Park in January, which finished 1-1.
“The one game I did not want to miss, I missed, which I was gutted about, but I needed to be a part of it in some way.
“I felt like I could help the team by being on the bench, and being a part of it, and I was not going to miss that game, whether I was playing or not.
“Gaffer asked me to see if I could still be around it and be on the bench, and I was willing to do that, so hopefully I can play in that game next year.”
Looking ahead to the final game of the season at home to Birmingham City, Regan believes: “I feel like last year we finished on 54 points, we are on 54 now, so to finish better off than last year, that is what we want to do.
“We want to progress as a football club, we want to get better and to do that, I want to finish better than we did last year.
“We have put ourselves in a good position from where we were a few weeks ago, and I think that is really what we have to be aiming for, to be honest.”
On his international future with the Wales national team, Regan added: “I have said a few times, I do not want to finish my career on 1 cap, so I would like to get a few more by the time I am a little bit older.
"Hopefully this season, my numbers and my games are recognised, I am hoping to get a few more caps for sure.”
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