John Marquis to draw level with Brett Pitman but has catching up to do on the Portsmouth goal front

The striker is set to make his 99th outing in all competitions against his former team-mate when the Blues take on Swindon – outings that stretch over two spells at Fratton Park, of course.

But the former Doncaster Rovers marksman still has distance to travel to match the goalscoring record Pitman left behind upon his Pompey departure last summer.

Marquis has scored 32 goals in all competitions in his 98 games to date. That works out at 0.32 goals per game.

His last came in the 2-1 away win against Shrewsbury, netting following a free-flowing attacking move which involved three of his team-mates.

That represented his 96th game with the star & crescent on his chest.

In contrast, Pitman found the net 42 times during his 99 matches over three seasons at Fratton Park, at an average of 0.42 goals a game.

Meanwhile, it took him 29 games less to match Marquis’ current goal tally, with his 32nd goal in a Pompey shirt arriving in his 67th appearance.

The Swindon forward is also the last Blues player to find the net over 20 times in a single season, after signing from Ipswich Town on a free transfer in 2017.

Marquis is currently having his most productive campaign at PO4, contributing 16 goals and four assists, but has yet to breach the 20-goal-a-season barrier.

He has five games left to overtake Pitman’s highest goal tally of 25 goals from the 2017-2018 term.

The front man has also struggled to convert as many scoring chances as he’s been provided with – his expected goals to goal difference is one of the worst in League One.

But Pitman is also playing below his expected goals figure at his latest club, and has failed to replicate his Blues form at the County Ground.

He has scored just nine times in 38 appearances and 24 starts.

Indeed, Pitman has not scored in his past seven appearances, with his last goal coming in a 3-1 home defeat to Gillingham on March 13.

It would be just like him, though, to break that trend against his former club tonight – and show the pretender to his Fratton throne how it’s done.

Fingers cross that’s not the case.