Pompey had gone 115 days without tasting competitive football before the first leg of their play-off contest.
But the wait was even longer for Bryn Morris, who has suffered a catalogue of injury setbacks over the past year.
His most recent outing prior to Friday evening’s contest was a 1-1 draw with Accrington in May 2019 – a whopping 427 days earlier.
After emerging unscathed from 90 minutes against Oxford, however, the midfielder is eager for more action.
He said: “It’s been really tough at times, but I just want to forget all that now to be honest and look ahead to the future.
“I’m feeling really fit and I’ll take confidence from that as I try to keep building and working on my game.
"It’s been really tough at times, but I just want to forget all that now to be honest and look ahead to the future."
“I knew I was playing following the meeting with the gaffer before the match, but you have an inkling in the time leading up to it.
“You never quite know for sure, though, and so it’s important that you’re constantly staying on your toes.”
Ronan Curtis was on target in the 1-1 draw with Oxford and Morris is feeling confident ahead of Monday’s return fixture.
He said: “I thought it was wave after wave from us in the first 25 minutes and we had a good balance between going long and keeping the ball on the deck.
“There should have been a few penalties in there for us, but we’ll be ready to go again in the second leg on Monday.
“I think that our fitness will come through because we ran all over them towards the end, but just didn’t have that killer instinct.
“I was able to get forward a lot more in the second half and that was because we had the momentum.”
🏠 Fratton Park, but not 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 how we know it#Pompey pic.twitter.com/4kdxa6Os7X
— Portsmouth FC (@Pompey) July 4, 2020