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Toby Steward’s eye-catching Gosport performances can set him on the pathway to becoming a Pompey first-teamer.

That’s the verdict of John Mousinho, who continues to be impressed by the highly-regarded goalkeeper’s progress.

The 18-year-old is flourishing at Borough this season, helping them to sit top of Southern League Premier South, despite Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Salisbury.

Steward has yet to feature competitively for the Blues, although has been a regular around the squad since September 2021.

Now he’s thriving as first-choice keeper during an impressive Gosport loan spell.

Mousinho told The News: ‘It’s easy for us to forget how young Toby is because of his time involved in the first-team.

‘Since I set foot through the door, when we had injuries with Matt Macey last year, Toby came in and deputised (on the bench), we were never worried about the fact he might get on the pitch at the age of 17.

‘He has really pushed on this year, I thought he was excellent in pre-season. The next part of his profession is to go out and prove himself at Gosport’s level and hopefully can then go up the levels pretty quickly.

Pompey's Toby Steward after his hat-trick of penalty shoot-out saves for Gosport against Salisbury earlier this month. Picture: Tom Phillips

‘The aim for Toby is, at some point, to challenge for the number one spot at Pompey. As a goalkeeper at 18 he has quite a few years to do that, there’s no rush. If he does it at the age of 24 then great.

‘I’m sure he won’t want to take that long – and we don’t want him to take that long – certainly he has a bit more time in the bank and, the fact he is progressing so well, is brilliant for everyone.

‘I hope he becomes Pompey’s number one. That’s entirely up to him, we certainly wouldn’t be dedicating our time to him if we didn’t think so.

‘We definitely think Toby has the potential to do that, but don't want to heap any pressure on his shoulders because he’s got a lot of time to progress. With all the goalkeepers in the building, we want them to push for the number one shirt.’

Following 12 matches, Gosport are one point clear of Merthyr Town at the top of the table.

And recently Steward saved three out of four penalties in a shoot-out against Salisbury to progress in the FA Trophy.

Mousinho added: ‘The plan for him is to be at Gosport for the season. There’s always the recall option there and, at the moment, we are really, really happy with his progress.

‘We have a really good relationship with the club, all the way up to Iain (McInnes), who’s had a massive involvement with Pompey in the past.’

John Mousinho backs flourishing starlet for future Portsmouth first-team spot amid impressive loan spell