Portsmouth chief provides encouraging Colby Bishop update as 'positive' striker pinpoints comeback

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Andy Cullen has provided an insight into Colby Bishop’s positive mindset over returning to Pompey duty.

And he reveals the popular striker is targeting playing ‘a number of games’ before the season is out.

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Colby Bishop is demonstrating a positive mindset as he recovers from heart surgery.Colby Bishop is demonstrating a positive mindset as he recovers from heart surgery.
Colby Bishop is demonstrating a positive mindset as he recovers from heart surgery. | PFA

Nonetheless, the Blues are encouraged with the prolific striker’s progress, with rehabilitation currently involving running sessions at their Hilsea training ground.

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And, according to Cullen, Bishop is thinking positively over a playing return - this season.

Pompey’s chief executive told The News: ‘Colby is doing really well. Certainly Colby is positive that he will play this season - and that he will play for a number of games this season. Which is great.

‘We just have to manage it as best as we possibly can because there have been so few surgeries of this kind, fewer than 1,000 people, and a small proportion of those have been professional athletes.

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‘We have given him the best possible surgeon to look at it and to operate on him, with the best possible aftercare. He is making good progress and we all hope to see him in action this season.

‘Colby is looking really positively at what was a very, very difficult situation. Naturally he wants to make a return as soon as he possibly can, we just have to make sure we manage it properly, using the correct advice from medical professionals.

‘It’s not a hamstring - grade one, grade two, grade three - it’s not an ACL with 9-10 months. There is no set time he will be out for, although we knew it was highly unlikely he’d be available prior to Christmas.

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‘Given the experiences of people in similar situations, with each surgery very different as well, this is a really, really serious piece of surgery, open-heart surgery, let’s make no bones about it.

‘But we have to put the players’ health first in all of this.’

Bishop has scored 45 goals in 100 appearances since arriving at Fratton Park in the summer of 2022 in a £500,000 transfer from Accrington.

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Last season he finished as 21-goal top-scorer in the Blues’ League One title triumph to return to the Championship following a 12-year absence.

Cullen added: ‘We have a responsibility as a football club to all our staff - and full marks to everybody for making sure we went through all the cardio scans at the start of the season.

‘We will continue to do that, anybody coming into the football club, anybody within the football club, we will ensure they continue to have those done regularly so we’re on top of it. It’s really, really important.’

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