Portsmouth boss Steve Cotterill has played down reports that Tommy Smith and Aaron Mokoena are on the verge of leaving the south coast club. Both players were notable absentees from Saturday's 1-1 draw with Reading as Pompey once again failed to fill their substitutes' bench.

The Pompey boss told The News: "Aaron's got stuck in South Africa from their game the other night and Tommy hopefully will be fit this week.

"As far as I'm concerned, Tommy Smith is not for sale. It was an injury that kept him out on Saturday, it's not a scam.

"He's done 50-70 per cent of everything we've wanted him to do and he was with the physio on Saturday morning.

"If Tommy Smith happens to go anywhere, I don't know anything about it. But I don't think he'll be sold from underneath my backside. In fact, I'm sure about that.

"So let's say we're looking forward to having Tommy back in our squad this week. If we look at having him and Aaron back in the squad and maybe a couple of additions, then perhaps we'll look a bit stronger."