Portsmouth face striker crisis following John Marquis red card with injured Jordy Hiwula ruled out for 'four to six weeks'

And that casts a huge doubt on whether the front man will be available for the Blues’ remaining 10 games of the regular season, with the campaign set to end on May 8.

The former Coventry ace missed today’s 2-1 win at Shrewsbury with an ankle injury – a win which saw the visitors move up to fifth in the table and back in the play-offs.

The returning John Marquis was Pompey’s only recognised striker at New Meadow, with Ellis Harrison ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

But with the Blues’ top scorer set to miss the next three games following his straight red card on 68 minutes for a foul on Harrison Chapman, Cowley’s options are all of a sudden limited in that area.

Hiwula started the new head coach’s first game in charge against Ipswich last Saturday.

And Cowley hopes his return can be accelerated somehow, with the Blues desperate to be part of the end-of-season play-offs.

Speaking to BBC Solent at the full-time whistle at New Meadow, the Pompey boss said: ‘Jordy, and credit to him, played last Saturday and kind of put himself up to play even though he was carrying a little bit of an ankle injury.

‘Unfortunately, he got another kick on it and I think we will lose him for four to six weeks.

‘That’s what we anticipate.

‘We’ll try to accelerate the process and try to get him back quicker.

‘We’d certainly like to extend our season so hopefully we can get him back fit because he’s an important player to us.

‘We’ve seen today, you know, if we do lose John for potentially three games then we’re short of options in the number nine position.’

With question marks over Hiwula and Marquis’ return dates, the Blues will have to turn to Ronan Curtis, Marcus Harness or Ryan Williams to lead the line, with all three playing up front for Pompey over the course of the season.

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