POMPEY defender Jason Cundy has decided to quit the professional game.

Cundy has been blighted by injury since signing for the Blues from Ipswich in the summer of 1999. He has been devilled by knee trouble, and has now admitted defeat after advice from a knee specialist.

He made just 11 appearances in total for the team. He missed a large part of last autumn with hamstring trouble, and then suffered a knee injury which required exploratory surgery in the close season.

Cundy said: "It's a sad day, I'm now an ex-pro footballer.

"I haven't put my boots on since that game at Swindon. I cleaned them after the game, put them in the boot of my car - and they've been there ever since."

Shaun Derry and Aaron Flahavan have been offered new long-term contracts by the club.

Midfielder Derry, who signed from Sheffield United last March for £600,000, has put pen to paper on a new improved deal which will keep him at the club until 2005.

And number two goalkeeper Flahavan, whose current deal ended this summer, has also been offered a four-year contract.

It's the latest piece of good news for player-manager Steve Claridge who last week managed to persuade midfielder Thomas Thogersen to sign a two-year extension to his current contract to keep him at the club until 2003.

Scott Hiley, Dave Waterman and Stefani Miglioranzi are all negotiating over new deals.