PORTSMOUTH boss John Mousinho has been encouraged by the performances of Middlesbrough loanee Sammy Silvera in the early weeks of the season.

But Mousinho says the timing of last month's game against Boro wasn't ideal, with Silvera ineligible to play against his parent club.

That, says the Pompey boss, came on the back of Silvera's best display so far in the 0-0 draw with Luton Town at Fratton Park, so it was frustrating that the Aussie winger wasn't able to build on that momentum.

Portsmouth are still looking for their first win of the season but their defeat to Sunderland last time out was their first loss on the back of creditable draws against Leeds, Luton and Boro.

And Silvera has quickly established himself on the south coast, starting all three games he was available to play in.

"Sammy has been really bright since he came into the building," said Mousinho.

"There's plenty of promise there in terms of his performances.

"There's a huge amount to build on as well and it was a bit frustrating that he wasn't able to play at Middlesbrough because it came on the back of his best performance against Luton.

"We want to get him in the swing of things, we want to get him going, keep on top of him and hopefully have a really successful loan spell."

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It was second time lucky for Mousinho this summer with Portsmouth having long chased Silvera. They missed out on the winger 12 months ago when Boro won the battle to sign the winger from Central Coast Mariners.

It meant Portsmouth's boss already knew a lot about the 23-year-old when a loan deal was struck with Boro in the summer. But although Mousinho rates Silvera highly, he has identified areas of his game the Boro man needs to improve.

He said: "Before Middlesbrough took him he was a player we had looked at and were really interested in taking. Unfortunately we couldn't last year but we kept an eye on him and were lucky enough to get him this year.

"I think there are a couple of things for him to work on.

"He needs to make sure he does his defensive job well and make sure he switches on and stays with the runners. When he does get those opportunities I think he shows some really bright spells and a spark but he needs to probably add a bit more final product, a few more assists and goals and once he does that we'll see a much more complete player."