Pitman on track to be up with Pompey greats

Brett Pitman is on track to rub shoulders with Pompey goalscoring greats.
Brett Pitman celebrates Pompey's winner at Blackpool. Picture: Joe PeplerBrett Pitman celebrates Pompey's winner at Blackpool. Picture: Joe Pepler
Brett Pitman celebrates Pompey's winner at Blackpool. Picture: Joe Pepler

The forward was regarded as a major coup when he was signed from Ipswich in the summer for an undisclosed fee.

And that has proved to be the case in a superb start at the Blues.

Pitman has netted 11 goals from just 14 appearances.

Harry Rednapp, left, celebrates with Svetoslav Todorov after Pompey captured the Division One titleHarry Rednapp, left, celebrates with Svetoslav Todorov after Pompey captured the Division One title
Harry Rednapp, left, celebrates with Svetoslav Todorov after Pompey captured the Division One title
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He sits second in the League One scoring charts – behind Rotherham’s Kieffer Moore, who has 13.

The former AFC Bournemouth man had gone three games without a goal before scoring a double in the Blues’ 3-2 win at Blackpool on Saturday.

Assistant manager Joe Gallen lauded Pitman’s impact.

He said: ‘It is great we have a player like Brett. There are no guarantees in football but there is some sort of it with Brett because of his record.

Harry Rednapp, left, celebrates with Svetoslav Todorov after Pompey captured the Division One titleHarry Rednapp, left, celebrates with Svetoslav Todorov after Pompey captured the Division One title
Harry Rednapp, left, celebrates with Svetoslav Todorov after Pompey captured the Division One title

‘It’s great we can rely on him because at 2-2 we were thinking it would end that way.

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‘The ball for the winner could have fallen to anyone but it landed at Brett – that’s him and that’s the way he is.

‘He hadn’t scored since his knee operation and the majority of his goals were at home.

‘It was good for him to be back among the goals but we have to underline it can’t just be Brett scoring goals – the others have to chip in.’

Pitman boasts a ratio of one goal every 108 minutes this season.

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The Jersey-born talent has had a brief spell on the sidelines after undergoing knee surgery.

But if he remains injury-free and continues to score at the same rate, he is on track to finish on 35 goals.

The 29-year-old will need to improve his ratio significantly if he’s going to threaten Guy Whittingham’s club record of 47 goals in the 1992-93 campaign.

But if Pitman does get to 35, he will be the second highest scorer in a single season for Pompey in the post-war era.

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Ron Saunders bagged 34 goals in the 1963-64 Division Two campaign.

The 20-goal barrier – considered the barometer of a good campaign for any striker – looks inevitable for Pitman.

As a result, he would become the first player in 15 seasons to reach that landmark.

Svetoslav Todorov was the last player to achieve the feat. The Fratton Park hero netted 26 goals as Harry Redknapp’s troops clinched the Division One title in the 2002-03 season.

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There have been several players who have gone close to reaching the 20-goal mark since then.

Yakabu was just one shy in Pompey’s maiden Premier League season in 2003-04 – before finishing on 17 the following season.

Meanwhile, Peter Crouch finished on 18 goals for the 2008-09 campaign.

Despite being a midfielder, Jed Wallace bagged 17 goals in all competitions in the 2014-15 season, which earned him a move to Wolves.

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And Kal Naismith’s remarkable second half of last term saw him finish on a tally of 15.

The Scot netted seven goals in the final nine games as Paul Cook’s outfit won the League Two crown on the last day of the campaign.