The frustrating admission over prized Portsmouth asset as boss looks to future with Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town linked man at Fratton

The Blues boss has called on officials to give his top scorer better protection, after they admitted the striker is subjected to a different threshold for fouls to other players.

Bishop enjoyed the biggest season of his career, after his £500,000 arrival from Accrington last summer.

The 26-year-old banged in 24 goals and saw his valuation multiply, with the likes of Blackburn and Ipswich credited with interest.

One hallmark of Bishop’s season has been the constant physical battering he’s been subjected to virtually every week, as he leads the line for Pompey.

Mousinho feels there is an imbalance over the level of punishment the striker has to receive to pick up a foul, compared to other players.

He said: ‘Colby gets a battering every week and there seems to be this incredible threshold for fouls against Colby.

‘We joke about it, but I genuinely had to raise it with referees every week. I have no idea why he’s treated differently.

‘The Oxford game, in particular, is one which springs to mind. Stuart Findlay twice early on had gone straight through the back of him.

‘I understand the ones where the ball is up in the air and Colby is trying to pin a centre-half, with his arms behind him. I get those ones.

‘But there are ones which are just blatantly obvious that the referees don’t give. They have to admitted to me themselves there seems to be a higher threshold, because of his size and stature.

‘I said that is not how you referee games, you have to make sure you do it properly. If it’s one of those which is 50-50, that’s fine, but even as big as Colby is he needs protection as well.’

Despite being a player in demand Mousinho hinted at Pompey planning for a future with Bishop at Fratton Park, as he vowed he would continue to push his case with referees moving forward over the physical stick he takes.

The Blues head coach explained how the striker gets exasperated over the issue, so feels it’s important to fight his corner with officials.

He added: ‘I know Colby gets frustrated and can lose his head about it sometimes. I sympathise with him when I see some of these things going on.

‘He gives as good as he gets in a lot of circumstances and we’ve never complained about that, but sometimes the foul goes against Colby and it’s bizarre and baffling.

‘It’s something we’d like to improve upon next season. It’s out of our control almost, but we’ll keep asking the question.’