'Talisman' Colby Bishop earns strong Portsmouth backing after alarming recent penalty record continues
The prolific striker has scored 56 goals for Pompey since his July 2022 arrival from Accrington
Colby Bishop may have missed four of his last 10 Pompey penalties, yet Josh Murphy is adamant the ‘talisman’ has the players’ backing to keep the job.
The Blues skipper saw his 80th-minute spot-kick comfortably saved by Vladan Kovacevic on Saturday, with his team already trailing Norwich 2-0.
John Mousinho’s men eventually pulled one back through Adrian Segecic, yet went on to lose 2-1, representing their first Championship defeat of the campaign.
The prolific Bishop has now scored 18 of his 23 penalties since arriving at Pompey in July 2022 from Accrington, establishing himself as an outstanding signing.
However, having missed one of his opening 13 penalties, since January 2024 he has now failed to convert four of his next 10.
Despite that worrying recent statistic, though, Murphy is convinced the 28-year-old remains the best man for the job.
‘When we have another penalty, I will back him to score that one’
The winger told The News: ‘That is part and parcel of football. He will probably beat himself up about it, but, as I said to Colby afterwards, those things happen.
‘He is our talisman, the leader on the pitch, he leads from the front, he will be disappointed, but he’s going to score a tonne of goals for us this year, he is going to be so important.
‘Obviously he’s gutted he has missed it, but onto the next one, he’ll be fine. These things happen, it’s a penalty at the end of the day, goalies are getting better at saving them.
‘When we have another penalty, I will back him to score that one. He’s got the backing from all the boys and the manager, so he just needs to move on. He’s going to score plenty of penalties this year and also plenty of goals.
‘It was just an unlucky shot, you can't dwell on things for too long, he is old enough to own it. No-one has any hard feelings about it, it’s just one of those things.’
18 of Bishop’s 56 Portsmouth goals have been penalties
Ironically, Bishop’s last successful penalty was in the previous encounter with Norwich, when the Blues ran out 5-3 winners in April.
Out of his 23 Blues spot kicks in total, he has failed against Norwich, Derby (April 2025), Northampton (February 2024), Leyton Orient (January 2024) and Port Vale (March 2023).
Regardless, Bishop possesses an impressive record of 56 goals in 133 appearances for Pompey, of which 18 have come from penalties.
Bishop’s penalty highlights include League One title-winning match
There have also been some crucial spot-kick moments from the 28-year-old, including the equalising penalty in the April 2024 League One title-winning match against Barnsley.
Meanwhile, Bishop scored six of his eight penalties during his three years at Accrington, before switching to Fratton Park under Danny Cowley.
Murphy added: ‘Colby was brilliant in the game against Norwich, he caused so many problems for their back line, bringing other players into the game.
‘Even though he didn’t score on Saturday, the job he does for the team is so important and probably goes unnoticed for a lot of the time - but he will get his goals.’