The aspect of John Marquis' Portsmouth game that's been impressing as much as his goalscoring

Five goals in three games ahead of Saturday's clash with Charlton suggests Pompey have finally found a way to get the best out of the striker.

Marquis didn't quite meet many fans' expectations during his maiden season at Fratton Park after arriving for a big-money fee in July 2019.

Having forged himself a reputation as one of the best goalscorers in the lower leagues at Doncaster, he could manage only 14 goals in 48 games.

But since Pompey switched a 4-4-2 system in recent matches, it's seemingly lit the touchpaper to his PO4 career.

A fine opening goal in a 2-0 victory Gillingham was followed up by doubles in respective 3-1 and 4-0 wins over Sunderland and Northampton.

But it's not just been Marquis' finishing that has caught the eye of Joe Gallen.

The assistant boss has also been impressed by the former Millwall man's hold-up play when leading the line.

It's something that he struggled to get to grips with, at times, last season when he operated as a lone front man.

But the 28-year-old impressively retained possession in the build-up to Michael Jacobs' goal at Gillingham, while that aspect of his game was also solid against Sunderland and Northampton.

Gallen believes Marquis' purple patch in the final third and his back-to-goal play have dovetailed together – and that's given him a shot in the arm.

'Scoring goals for any forward player gives them confidence,' said Gallen.

‘John works extremely hard for the team and his back-to-goal work has been extremely good as well.

‘He's backed in, held the ball up and got little flicks which is also a part of it.

‘But the thing that will give John confidence is scoring goals. The first goal in games is very important and he did that at Gillingham, using both feet. It's given him more confidence now.

‘Sunderland had Charlie Wyke and he is a big, big focal point for them.

‘He scored against us but a big part of his job is to hold the ball up, win some headers and get into the box and score goals.

‘That is the majority of the role that number-nines have to play. There is a lot of what I call halfway line football.

‘You have to make the ball stick, get hold of the ball and John has been doing that well for us.’

Marquis’ brace proved key in the triumph over promotion-rivals Sunderland.

His first-half finish was a fine one, while he considered his excellent Pompey record from the penalty spot to put the game to rest with five minutes remaining.

Despite Jordy Hiwula arriving on a short-term deal and Ellis Harrison close to returning from a hamstring injury, Marquis is making it tough to be dropped from Kenny Jackett’s starting line-up.

Gallen added: ‘His finish at Sunderland was very accurate, in off the far post when he was played in with a weighted pass by Marcus Harness.’

‘Then the penalty was a big one and he's been very good at taking penalties for us, very composed.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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