12 months on: How Portsmouth's former £1.5m strikeforce have fared since Fratton exits for Bristol Rovers, Lincoln, Fleetwood and Port Vale

And John Marquis and Ellis Harrison have subsequently experienced contrasting League One fortunes in life away from Fratton Park since January 2022.

The pair were costly acquisitions by Kenny Jackett in the summer of 2019, transfers funded by the sales of Matt Clarke and Jamal Lowe and greeted with understandable optimism.

They were supposed to deliver Championship football following play-off semi-final elimination to Sunderland.

Ultimately, a year later, it was a penalty shoot-out which this time deprived Jackett’s Blues – and they’ve not been back.

Harrison and Marquis were striking rivals, yet inseparable friends off the pitch. Disappointingly, though, it never quite worked out for either at Pompey.

Once a £1m signing, Marquis departed for Lincoln for a nominal fee with six months remaining on a contract which wouldn’t be renewed and Cowley wishing to utilise his wage.

Following that exit, the former Doncaster man has played for two clubs and totalled nine goals in 38 League One matches.

Current Pompey striker Colby Bishop presently has 10 goals in 23 league outings, an impressive return considering Pompey’s awful displays of late.

Still, life with the Imps began encouragingly for Marquis, netting on his debut in a 2-1 win at Lincoln, sparking three goals in his opening three appearances.

However, he scored just twice in his final 17 outings, with both arriving in the same match in a 3-1 triumph over Sheffield Wednesday in March 2022.

With Lincoln finishing 17th, Marquis was released after five goals in 20 games – and his next club was newly-promoted Bristol Rovers in July 2022.

It was a slow start under Joey Barton, registering twice in his opening 14 games, before injury sidelined him from the start of October.

Upon his return, there were a flurry of goals, with four in two games, having netted twice against MK Dons in the Papa Johns Trophy and then, the following match, another two at Charlton.

Since then, Marquis has failed to score in his last five appearances, totalling four games in 18 league fixtures so far this term.

Interestingly, stretching back from Pompey in November 2020, the 30-year-old has struck 20 goals in 85 outings in League One, spread over three clubs.

Harrison, though, has fared significantly better since the former £450,000 capture from Ipswich left Pompey in January 2022.

Overall, he has 14 goals from 39 league games, which is five better and one match more than Marquis over the same period.

Like Marquis, Harrison registered in his first match away from Fratton Park, grabbing Fleetwood’s match winner in a 1-0 triumph at Doncaster.

With two goals in his opening four fixtures, it represented an encouraging start, but better was to come, with a strong finish to the season.

Netting four times in the final seven games, he inspired the Cod Army to avoid relegation from League One on goal difference.

Just two games into this term, League One rivals Port Vale swooped for the 28-year-old for an undisclosed fee.

Harrison would plunder seven goals in his opening 11 appearances for the Valiants, although, as ever, there have been spells out through injury.

He last scored on New Year’s Day in a 3-1 win at Forest Green Rovers, taking his tally to eight in 19 league appearances – and has been sidelined since.

Indeed, Harrison has flourished at both Fleetwood and Port Vale since exiting Fratton Park, while Marquis continues failing to hit those Doncaster heights of yesteryear.