Gallen: Pitman will never get enough goals to satisfy him

That is the verdict of Joe Gallen, who continues to marvel at the indefatigable drive of Pompey’s prolific frontman.

Pitman took a remarkable season’s tally to 22 in 36 matches after netting twice in last weekend’s trip to Rochdale.

Yet leaving the pitch following the last-gasp own goal which secured a 3-3 draw, the Blues’ skipper looked anything but delighted.

It represented a seventh double of the campaign for the 30-year-old, with that maiden Pompey hat-trick continuing to elude.

And Gallen believes Pitman’s intense goal-scoring attitude dictates he will never be at peace, irrespective of his tally.

Pompey’s assistant boss said: ‘If you look at the reaction to the third goal it is kind of like “let’s get the ball and let’s put it down for kick-off”.

‘It was very interesting. The others were pretty elated, as we were on the bench, thinking “We’ll take a point here”.

‘But watching the footage later, it seemed to me Brett was “Let’s get the ball and we can win” and that is a fantastic attitude.

‘Or he was disappointed his goal-bound header was taken off him and wanted another chance! Knowing Brett, probably a bit of both.

‘I don’t think he will ever be able to score enough goals really, even in training he’s not satisfied.

‘As soon as the ball hits the net it gives him a huge amount of satisfaction. I pretty much believe as soon as the ball gets put down for the centre he is thinking “When’s the next one coming?”.

‘At the start of the season Brett was struggling with injury to his face or knee and was saying “I don’t want to stop because I am scoring at the moment. I need to keep going”, confidence plays a big part in everything.

‘He scored a shed load in training on Tuesday as well.

‘All he will be thinking is “When’s the next goal coming?”. Hopefully it’s coming on Saturday.’

Pompey head to Home Park on Saturday positioned one point and two places behind hosts Plymouth.

Yet Kenny Jackett’s side will be spearheaded by a fiercely in-form striker with seven goals in his past five matches.

Pitman has been a revelation since returning at Oldham following three matches sidelined by a hamstring problem.

There was even a two-game spell at the turn of January when he was benched against Shrewsbury and Doncaster.

Now Pitman’s confidence is soaring.

Gallen added: ‘We did think that Brett would score, there is a guarantee of goals with him, especially in League One, an absolute guarantee.

‘He doesn’t lack confidence, but the two goals against Oldham gave him an extra incentive to keep going and they also followed at Oxford.

‘With him it is always the next goal – and you cannot dwell and look back.

‘We are not at the end of our season yet, our season is still there for us to be successful, so all focus and all energy must go on the team for Saturday.

‘It’s the next game – and for Brett it’s the next goal.’