'We don't have a golden goose': John Mousinho pinpoints where Portsmouth's central midfielders must improve

Nonetheless, the Blues boss wants a scoring improvement from an area of the pitch which has notably lacked goals.

Frustratingly, a total of just nine goals arrived from the centre of midfield in 2022-23.

While Marlon Pack netted five times, Joe Morrell, Louis Thompson, Ryan Tunnicliffe and Jay Mingi each scored once, while Tom Lowery failed to register in his 21 outings.

Now Terry Devlin and Ben Stevenson have joined Pack, Morrell and Lowery as playing options for the forthcoming season.

However, neither newcomer possesses a goal-scoring pedigree which suggests they can improve on the disappointing statistic.

And Mousinho acknowledges he needs more.

He told The News: ‘The golden goose is having a central midfielder who can score.

‘It doesn’t necessarily concern me, it’s a good challenge to try to get a few more goals out of the middle of the park.

‘Marlon scored quite a few towards the back end of the season and it was really pleasing to see him getting forward for a couple of set-pieces.

‘When we played Exeter in January, he popped up on the edge of the box, and Joe Morrell scored that game as well.

‘I’d like to see Joe get a bit more advanced and into the box more, although when Marlon was injured, Joe ended up playing a lot deeper for a long period during the second-half of the season.

‘There is no doubt in my mind that if I speak to Tom Lowery we will both crack a smile and be half-joking about his goal contribution, but he needs to score more.

‘Against Morecambe last season he had a lot of chances, he just needs to put one into the back of the net. He’s getting in the right positions, which is really pleasing.

‘Terry (Devlin) is 100 per cent coming in to add to the goal contributions and I think that’s going to be one of the strengths of his game.

‘Interestingly enough, while Ben (Stevenson) hasn’t got the best goal-scoring record or pedigree, everyone I speak to says if you get him a bit more advanced and encourage him to shoot more rather than passing, being a bit less selfish, then you’ll get quite a few more goals.

‘I spoke extensively to Rob Edwards, who had him at Forest Green, and we are fortunate enough to have Michael Doyle in the building as well, with both giving him player reviews.

‘Overall, though, no doubt we need to increase our goal contribution from all over the pitch.’

Pack’s tally of five goals last term represented his best haul for a decade.

Yet he remains a holding midfielder whose chief threat is offered from set-pieces, whether taking them or arriving late into the box to get on the end of one.

Mousinho added: ‘Marlon is an interesting one.

‘He has probably taken a lot of set-pieces and, from what we have seen with his Shrewsbury and Wycombe goals, he’s actually a real threat getting into the box – and we’ll need to utilise that.

‘We look at the players we have in the middle of the park at the moment and every single player we had at the back end of last year, with Tom and Joe in particular.

‘And we know goal-scoring needs to be a big part of the improvement in their game for this season.’