Portsmouth boss explains why he didn't rival Peterborough's move for Mo Eisa when striker's Bristol City days were numbered

The boss revealed the Blues had ‘moved on’ and had other targets on his shopping list.

Pompey were in the chase for Eisa after he’d plundered 25 goals for League Two Cheltenham in the 2017-18 season.

The striker instead moved to Bristol City, although he endured a tough campaign in the Championship.

Eisa made just six appearances for the Robins last term and failed to break his goal duck.

That meant he was surplus to requirements at Ashton Gate and free to find a new club.

Eisa moved to Peterborough for a club-record fee of more than £1.25m and has been in rampant form ahead of their League One trip to Fratton Park on Saturday.

The former non-league hotshot has scored 14 goals in 22 appearances for the high-flying Posh.

Pompey instead swooped for Ellis Harrison and John Marquis from Ipswich and Doncaster respectively.

Jackett said: ‘I’m sure everybody looked at Eisa when he was at Cheltenham and we did.

‘Everybody would have looked at him because you’d always watch the level below you and particularly the strikers.

‘Out of that group, Christian Doidge is up in Scotland (at Hibernian) and has started scoring now, there was Marc McNulty (who joined Reading) and Jayden Stockley went up to Preston.

'There was a group of them who got moves and Eisa was part of that. I wouldn’t say we were closer than anyone else but we were obviously aware of it.

‘During the summer we had targets at that particular time and moved on because we had our targets.’

Eisa has been part of a prolific front three for Peterborough this season.

Ivan Toney and Marcus Maddison have also been in rampant form, scoring 13 and 10 goals respectively.

Jackett sees Darren Ferguson as one of the best sides in the division and is relishing the test.

He added: ‘They have got some goals in their side.

‘Similarly, they’ll be pleased by how they have done defensively of late.

‘They’re one of the best sides in the league. It's a big test for us and we’ll see where we are up against.’