Ellis Harrison: I'm not bitter at John Marquis, he's a friend not a Portsmouth striking rival

The duo are Blues striking rivals – but also inseparable friends off the pitch.

It’s a closeness which regularly sees both sets of families meet up for Sunday roasts, often around Marquis’ house.

However, in football terms, they have rarely shared a starting XI presence under Kenny Jackett, instead dislodging each other from the side.

That could well change on Monday, with the Blues boss forced into an attacking reshuffle at Plymouth (7pm) with Ronan Curtis on international duty and Michael Jacobs injured.

Regardless, in-form Marquis presently retains pole position, following seven goals in his last five League One outings.

Harrison told The News: ‘Whether John’s in or I’m in, we are both cheering each other on. There is no bitterness between any of us, we need to win games, regardless of who plays.

‘It’s not like that any more at Pompey. It’s not “If I’m not playing, then I will be an idiot”. You support the lads if you are playing or not because, at the end of the day, we all have the same goal in mind – that’s promotion.

‘Me and John are really good friends off the pitch. If I played on the Saturday – or the other way around – I would still go to his house for a roast on a Sunday, there wouldn't be any hard feelings between us.

‘I speak to John every day, even days off on FaceTime, I can’t get rid of him! My family is really close with his family and we do a lot of stuff together.

‘We don’t pick the team, that’s the manager’s job. We both want the same thing – promotion – and both want to play, but there are only 11 spots.

‘Of course you can separate football from friendship. If you lose every week, I’m still going to be your friend.

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‘I’ll come to your house and we’ll go for food with the girls and the kids, I am not going to take football home with me, maybe I used to do it too much.

‘Since I’ve had the baby it has been a lot different in terms of going home and he sees me in a bad mood and catches onto that. I try to be positive all the time.’

Marquis, League One’s top scorer, currently has Marcus Harness as his strike partner in the 4-4-2 system.

Regardless, there are no hard feelings from his pal Harrison.

He added: ‘I speak to John, Nayls and Browny more than the others, but it’s not that I don’t like anyone else, that’s just who I speak to.

‘You have a laugh with some more than others, but it doesn't mean I’m going to work less for anyone else. It doesn’t work like that.

‘At Pompey we all want the same thing – promotion.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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