Portsmouth are soaring under John Mousinho, and striker Colby Bishop’s form has been crucial to their unbeaten run.
Bishop was signed by Portsmouth from Accrington Stanley in the summer of 2022. He was a talisman for John Coleman’s side, but the 26-year-old has truly elevated himself with Pompey.
Bishop has scored 32 goals in 66 outings for the club, including eight in 12 games this season. While retaining his own remarkable form, Mousinho’s Portsmouth side are top of the table, having gone unbeaten in League One since March.
Bishop was in great form under former manager Danny Cowley, and after continuing to score goals under Mousinho, he has revealed what the manager told him upon his arrival in January.
According to The Athletic, the Portsmouth star said Mousinho directed him to play against him when he was at Oxford United. He stated:
“When he came in, he just said he wants me to play like I did against him.”
“When I’m on it, I can be a handful, so he wants me to stay in the box and do what I’m best at, which is scoring goals.” He instills a lot of confidence in me.”
Portsmouth for promotion?
Of course, there is still plenty of time left in the season, but Portsmouth appear to be fair value for their pre-season label as promotion candidates. They did a good job of recruiting over the summer and kept important goal scorer Bishop, who has been influential so far this season.
The hope is that he can make the step up to the Championship at Fratton Park, but if the promotion attempt fails to materialize, Bishop’s chances look good.
After leaving Notts County at a young age, a promotion to the second tier would signal a remarkable journey from non-league football to one of the continent’s most competitive divisions.
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