John Marquis makes goalscoring vow and addresses Portsmouth's aims for the season after Lincoln victory

The striker's purple patch continued with another double in last night's 3-1 victory over Lincoln.

He opened the scoring after five minutes with an exquisite curling finish before heading home a second in the 50th minute.

It took Marquis' tally to eight goals in as many games, nine for the season and, most impressively, to the summit of the League One scoring charts with seven.

What’s more, he’s already zeroing in on his tally of 14 for the entirety of last season – having played 33 fewer games.

Marquis toasted his sublime streak in the final third. But his appetite for goals will continue to be insatiable.

The former Doncaster marksman told The News: ‘I know what I'm capable of and what my abilities are.

‘I'm going through a good patch at the moment and want that to continue for as long as possible.

‘I don't want to take my foot off the pedal or get too comfortable.

‘I've got to keep doing what I'm doing, which is demand high standards of myself and the players around me.

‘It's going to get the best out of me and my team-mates. A few people think I moan too much but that is just part of me.

‘It's only because I want to win so much for myself and for the team. I hope it can continue and the tally is starting to tot up quite nicely at the moment.’

Pompey's win keeps them seventh in the table heading into Saturday's FA Cup first-round tie at Ipswich.

But the Blues are only two points outside the automatic promotion places with more than three-quarters of the season left to play.

And Marquis insisted that's firmly Pompey's aim after last term's heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to Oxford in the play-offs.

He added: ‘That is the aim. We're not going to say we're not aiming for that because we are.

‘We need to be ruthless. We can't be too happy when results go well and can't be too down when results don't go well.

‘We have always reacted well after losing. Obviously, we don't want to be losing too many games but if we do then we need to make sure we react well.

‘We've got a break from the league now but we'll still be trying to win at Ipswich in the FA Cup at the weekend.’