The 19 reasons Portsmouth looked a threat as they rediscovered attacking fluency at Accrington

And the Blues boss challenged his attacking quartet to maintain their impetus, after building a platform at the Crown Ground following their recent struggles.

Cowley opted to return to a 4-2-3-1 formation utlised earlier in the season, against John Coleman’s side in Saturday’s 2-2 draw.

The result was much-increased threat from Ronan Curtis, Marcus Harness and Reeco Hackett behind John Marquis, as Pompey racked up 19 shots and carved out a string of clearcut chances.

The frustration was more wasn’t made of some presentable openings, but the renewed cutting edge was a positive after one goal in the past three outings.

Cowley said ‘I thought the front four did very well.

‘I thought Reeco came in and gave us some real energy, particularly in the first part of the game.

‘He gave us technical quality and intelligent movement.

‘I thought him and Marcus linked really well and Marcus looked a goal threat.

‘I thought Ronan always looked a goal threat, while John had some really good chances and worked incredibly hard at the top of the pitch.

‘I felt all four of them deserved a goal for their level of performance.

‘They weren’t all able to find that goal, but they stuck at it - and that’s how we managed to find an equaliser in the dying moments.

‘They are good players, but we have to come together as a group and a team.‘A successful team doesn’t just have good players, a successful team has other ingredients.

‘They are the ones we need to search for.’

At the other end of the pitch the back four looked more settled, after Pompey’s defensive trio shipped four goals at Rotherham and Ipswich in a nightmare week.

Connor Ogilvie came into the middle of defence with Sean Raggett, as Lee Brown and Mahlon Romeo occupied the full-back positions.

Pompey will be disappointed with the manner of conceding from a set-piece shortly after the restart.

But there was undoubtedly a sturdier look about the side as Shaun Williams and Joe Morrell battled away in front of them.

Cowley added: ‘We’ve been waiting to get back to it (a back four).

‘We kind of got forced into a back three, because we’ve had three centre-halves out for what feels like the majority of the season.

‘Since Clark got injured we’ve lost Connor and Paul Downing as well.

‘So we went to a back four for this one.’