Four goalkeepers in two games: Cowley explains Portsmouth recruitment progress after casting eye over ex-Swansea and Spurs duo

Yet while he’s on the hunt for a new stopper, the head coach is adamant he has an open mind over Alex Bass’ first-team chances.

Bass and former Spurs keeper Josh Oluwayemi took a half each in Saturday’s 3-0 success at the Hawks.

That was followed 24 hours later by ex-Swansea man Josh Gould and Toby Steward sharing net-minding duties at Gosport.

This summer, Pompey have been pursuing West Brom’s Josh Griffiths in a loan deal as replacement for Gavin Bazunu.

Regardless, he is also eyeing up a new number two, hence the presence of Oluwayemi and Gould, although it is presently unclear whether either will today fly out for pre-season tour to Spain.

Although Cowley’s adamant that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of Bass’ bid for first-team recognition.

He told The News: ‘We would like to bring in another goalkeeper, it’s a department we’re trying to strengthen.

‘We’ll be trying to bring in a young one that can compete for the first-team spot – that will then allow us to get Toby (Steward) out of loan, which is the next step in his journey.

‘I don't want to talk too much about the triallists for obvious reasons, but decisions must be made for our tour to Spain.

‘We are open-minded about another (first-team) keeper. For us it’s about continuing trying to gather the information and trying to make the intelligent decisions.

‘We will definitely look to add a number two because we want to be able to free Toby up to be able to go out on loan, that’s really important to us.

‘He played on Sunday and was really good in everything he did. He’s well capable of playing at that level and, hopefully, beyond.’

Bass, who has now entered the final 12 months of his Fratton Park deal, is again uncertain over his first-team chances.

He made seven appearances last season, while ended the campaign at Bradford, where he featured 21 times.

Cowley added: ‘I think Alex (Bass) is in a much better position this year than he was last year because of the games he played.

‘He did well on his Bradford loan and he did great for us when called upon last year and was really unlucky to lose his place at the start of that season.

‘Alex came in and played terrific in that Wycombe game, then he went out on loan and got games when previously he hadn’t had a first-team run for a while.

‘There were some challenges at the beginning of the Bradford loan, but we knew he would come through it – and he did.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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