Portsmouth academy graduate backed to score goals in the Premier League - but keeping Barnsley up the main priority

Both the promotion race and the relegation battle has gone right down to the wire.

Just one game – Reading v Swansea – can officially be classed as a dead rubber.

Pompey fans will have interests at both ends of the table.

At the top, Brentford – who are interested in Ronan Curtis – are hoping they can sneak a top-two place.

They face basement-side Barnsley where a certain Conor Chaplin will be battling to keep them in the second tier.

The former Pompey favourite has enjoyed a fine season in his maiden campaign in the Championship, after leaving Coventry last summer.

He’s scored 13 goals in 46 appearances for a Tykes side who’ve been around the drop zone for the majority of the year.

One of his efforts came at Fratton Park in Pompey’s 4-2 victory over Gerhard Struber’s men in the FA Cup fourth round in January.

It could be argued Chaplin has surpassed expectations this term – although former Blues Academy coach Mikey Harris isn’t too surprised.

Since the day they started working together, Harris always felt the striker could put the ball in the back of the net at any level – and that includes the Premier League.

Harris said: ‘I’m delighted for Conor and he is starting to fulfil his potential.

‘I still feel that there is more to come from him. I still think that in the right team, in the right system – and I've always said it from the minute I started working with him - that Conor can score goals at any level.

‘I include the Premier League in that in the right team. He will maximise his potential and he will achieve what he deserves to achieve.

‘It was gutting for him that he played in an empty stadium against Leeds last week. That Yorkshire derby at Elland Road, with Leeds going for promotion and Barnsley trying to avoid relegation. It would have been a hell of an atmosphere.

‘I still speak to Conor pretty regularly and it’s great to see him doing well. He’s another example of a young player (doing well) given a run in a team’

Chaplin was a huge fans’ favourite at Fratton Park following his breakthrough to the first team in 2014 and helped Paul Cook's side win the League Two title in 2017.

However, the marksman was never a regular starter under Cook or Kenny Jackett.

After 25 goals in 122 appearances, he left for Coventry for a fee of £500,000 in August 2018 to further his career.

Harris felt it was a move that suited all parties at the time.

He said: 'As much as we’d love everyone to come through the academy, get in the first team then stay there for the rest of their career, modern football is not like that any more.

‘Sometimes players need to leave to further their careers and sometimes they can come back and it works too. Other times they go on elsewhere.

‘At the time, it was the right move for everyone.

‘I’m sure Conor will kick on again and go on to have a great career.’

It came as somewhat of a surprise when Chaplin left Coventry after just one season.

In 2018-19, he scored eight goals in 33 appearances for Mark Robins’ side upon their League One return, despite being troubled by injuries throughout.

But Barnsley were still admirers, having also been interested the previous summer when he left PO4 for the Sky Blues.

He moved to Oakwell in July 2019 and has again become adored by the supporters.

Chaplin's enjoyed a fine first campaign in the Championship, certainly showing he is still on an upward trajectory.

Now there remains one more challenge bigger than any other he's faced in the past.

That’s to defeat Brentford – and hope Charlton and Luton slip up against Leeds and Blackburn respectively – in order for the Tykes to retain their second-tier status.

Harris said: ‘Conor is so driven to play at the highest possible level that he can.

‘When he had the opportunity to go and play in the Championship, Barnsley were always a club interested in him.

‘That was something always in the background and have always coveted him.

‘That would have played a factor as he knew they’d been watching him for a long time and knew what he was about.

‘If they were going to invest money in a player then immediately you feel good as a player. It was a no-brainer for him.

‘He’s not played as a striker all of the time, either. He’s played in different positions across the top of the pitch and it shows that his finishing ability is right up there.’