Waddingham: "We're prepared & we’re ready"

Pompey forward Thomas Waddingham speaks with Express FM’s David Howes ahead of Saturday’s trip to Turf Moor.

After another injury setback during Portsmouth’s Carabao Cup first-round tie away at West Ham, Thomas Waddingham is looking to keep himself fit and firing as one of John Mousinho’s forward options.

The 21-year-old striker had his biggest moment in a Blues shirt thus far, when he netted the winner in the Blues’ 2-1 win at home to Millwall last Saturday.

On how it felt to score at Fratton, Tom said: “It was a great experience to be able to score in front of the Fratton end, at Fratton Park; it's a brilliant feeling!”

The Australian striker first landed on the south coast almost 2 years ago, in January 2025, in a £200,000 ($393,021 AUD) deal from A-League outfit Brisbane Roar.

Speaking about his journey since that move, Waddingham believes: “There have been a lot of setbacks, which are quite frustrating, especially being so far overseas, which is tough.

“But to finally get a goal, and some minutes again, it's a really good feeling!”

“It was very frustrating (picking up an ankle injury away at West Ham); I was feeling really good, feeling really fit, I was scoring a couple of goals in pre-season.

“So when that happened, it felt like the same thing was happening again, but I am back now, and I am feeling good.

“To have the backing of him (John Mousinho), the feeling that you can be confident, play your best, and focus on how you can improve is really nice.”

Mousinho now has four different forward options in the firing line, including Waddingham, Colby Bishop, Marko Milovanović, and Tyrese Shade.

“It's been good; it's tough competition, but I think we can all help the team in different ways. We all have different bits about our games, and hopefully we can help the team together.”

On Saturday, Portsmouth will make their final away trip before the international break, by travelling to Turf Moor to face Burnley, who only appointed Fabio Celestini on Thursday.

“It could be unknown (with the new manager), but as long as we’re prepared and we’re ready for anything, we can just go from there.”

Finally, after bagging his first goal of the campaign last Saturday, Waddingham’s ambition remains to do that on a consistent basis.

“First of all, for me it's about staying fit, keeping scoring goals; that’s the main thing as a striker, as long as you can help the team in doing that, then that’s my main goal.”