Republic of Ireland international Ronan Curtis admits he was surprised to be omitted from the national team squad for the recent games against Azerbaijan and Qatar.
The 25-year-old, who has scored three goals for Portsmouth in League One this season, did not feature in Ireland's two wins in October.
"Putting on the Irish jersey is a proud moment for me and my family, so not being called up was disappointing," Curtis told the Portsmouth News.
"But my mind is not on that right now, I'm trying to sort Pompey out and get us to be the best that we can.
"To be honest, I was surprised at being dropped. I had scored a couple of goals and assisted a couple and didn’t get picked.
"But, to be fair to the lads, they did well when they were away and got the two wins. Hopefully next month we can get another couple."
"To be honest, I was surprised at being dropped. I had scored a couple of goals and assisted a couple and didn't get picked"
While disappointed at his omission, Curtis praised Stephen Kenny's handling of the matter, confirming that the pair "had it out" over the phone ahead of the squad announcement.
"I was doing all right here (at Pompey), playing well, but the gaffer spoke to me and we had it out. He said some things, I said some things, and we came to an agreement and that was it, really.
"There were no harsh words involved, nothing like that. It was nice of him to ring to tell me that I wasn't involved before the squad came out.
"It was good management from Stephen Kenny, I have a lot of respect for him because of that.
"To get back I need to do the best I can on the pitch for Pompey and keep scoring goals, hopefully trying to get us promoted."
To date, Curtis has earned seven caps for Ireland, last featuring in the 4-1 win over Andorra in June.
