Joe Rafferty’s previous appearance for Pompey was a home victory over Peterborough that kept them joint top of the League One table.
That was all the way back in September and it has been a long road back to the pitch for the right-back.
But he was able to put an injury nightmare behind him to help secure a dramatic Valentine’s Day victory over Burton at Fratton Park.
Rafferty admitted it has been a tough few months on the sidelines and now he is raring to get going again.
He said: “I keep myself in quite good shape and have worked hard with the physios and fitness coaches.
“I knew that I could go out there and do it for 90 minutes. I felt fine and I’m just delighted to be back.
“It’s been really tough – the toughest stage of my career. I’ve come far away from home to play football and to have that taken away from you is difficult.
"I was really down because we’d started the season well and I was enjoying it. It was just heart-breaking."
“I’ve got my little one and he kept me occupied and then the World Cup was on, which helped take my mind of it.
“The first thing was a hernia, which is quite a quick turnaround. I went out, kicked a ball and something different went, which was a much bigger problem.
“I was really down because we’d started the season well and I was enjoying it. It was just heart-breaking.
“But I’ve been trying to focus on getting back out there in front of the fans again, so it was a great feeling.”
Pompey dominated against Burton, but it took until the second minute of stoppage-time for Dane Scarlett to grab the only goal.
Rafferty said: “We’ll never lose hope and we just had to keep pushing and pushing. You can’t stop believing.
“It can be frustrating, but you have to continue putting the ball into the right areas and hope one drops for you.
“A lot of sides in the league will come to Fratton Park and make it difficult, so we had to create a fast tempo. Eventually one fell for us and Dane put it away.”