It has been a difficult start to his second Pompey stint for Ryan Williams.
So the summer signing was relieved to take to the pitch in the second half of a Leasing.com Trophy victory over Norwich U21s.
Ellis Harrison’s brace and a debut goal from teenager Josh Flint secured a 3-1 success in Southern Group B.
But Williams was just happy to be out on the pitch again after a quad injury delayed his second Blues debut.
The winger said: “It’s been a very frustrating start to my second spell here, but I’ve been training for a couple of weeks now.
“Getting 20 minutes was great for me and I felt really good. There are still a few cobwebs, but that will change with more games.
"I’m quite happy with where I am physically and now it’s just about getting that little bit of match sharpness back."
“I had one bad injury a few years ago, but nothing much since then and so it was a disappointing thing to happen on just the second or third day of training.
“The boys went out to Ireland and I had to stay behind on my own, but I’ve been working to get up to where the rest of the boys are.
“I’m quite happy with where I am physically and now it’s just about getting that little bit of match sharpness back.
“I’ll be pushing the other guys – and vice versa. If I see them doing well then it’s going to make me work even harder.”
Williams is hoping to be involved when Southampton visit Fratton Park in the Carabao Cup later this month.
He said: “I was here for the last home game when Joel Ward scored an equaliser. It was pretty feisty back then and so it should be a great contest to be involved in.”