MIKE PANOPOULOS found a window of opportunity opening up and squirmed his way through to hand Pompey player-manager Steve Claridge with another bonus.

The Aussie-Greek winger followed a path trodden by Scott Hiley to return to first-team action in Tuesday night's 2-1 win over Crewe. He had been frozen out of the picture by former boss Tony Pulis.

However the window only opened for Panopoulos after it had slammed shut in the face of Kevin Harper. Harper pulled up with a recurrence of his nagging calf muscle in the pre-match warm-up, handing the Greek-born wide man with an unexpected re-call.

It was a chance he grabbed with both hands, impressing with a livewire display in the victory over Dario Gradi's side. It lifted the Blues to 10th in Division One.

Panopoulos admitted: "I do have a point to prove, both to myself and to the gaffer who has put me in the team at the moment."

Like Hiley, restored to the Pompey line-up by Claridge, Panopoulos was ignored by Pulis during his managerial reign.

The 24-year-old, who was signed by former boss Alan Ball for £500,000 from Greek side Aris Salonika in September 1999, admitted: "I've had a rough time, but all you can do is keep your chin up and have confidence in your own ability.

"Football's a game of opinions and Tony played a type of football that didn't adapt for me. I told him that the game he played didn't suit me at all."

Panopoulos appeared to be heading out of Fratton Park under Pulis during the close season, but he is now happy to stick around at Fratton Park after being told he is wanted by Claridge.

"There wasn't any chance of me going back to Greece or Australia, but there was a strong possibility of me going to Watford. But it never happened, and that's turned out well. I love it here and want to play for this club.

"The gaffer told me before the warm-up to get ready to come on at some point as he didn't think Kevin would be able to last the full 90 minutes.

"But then during the warm-up he told me I was on and starting. I didn't think I would play the full 90 minutes. I didn't know what my fitness was like."