What Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley said about on-loan Coventry striker Tyler Walker that prompted automatic barrage of criticism prediction

And he backed up the statement by insisting: ‘All I can do is tell you what I think’.

The on-loan Coventry striker has come in for stick from sections of the Fratton faithful following his January loan move from the Sky Blues.

He’s started six of the Blues’ eight games in that time as he reunites with his former Lincoln boss at Fratton Park.

Yet none of those starts, or is one substitute appearance, has resulted in him finding the back of the net, prompting concerns among the Fratton faithful.

The 25-year-old nearly broke his duck during Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Fleetwood.

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He had one effort ruled out for offside, while another was somehow cleared off the line by the grounded Cod Army keeper Alex Cairns as the Blues hunted the visitors down after going 3-1 behind.

On another day, the striker could easily have been the Pompey hero everyone is hoping he can be.

But on this occasion, he stretched his period without a Blues goal to 533 minutes and 17 games in all competitions for both Pompey and Coventry.

And as questions were once again raised about his contribution following another blank, Cowley fought back by insisting the forward is getting better and will be a player to make a difference as the Fratton Park outfit continue to hold play-off aspirations.

When asked about the changes he made up front for the Fleetwood game, the manager said: ‘We’ve just got games coming so thick and fast.

‘With such a small group, League One football – particularly after two away travels, even though we only played one game – takes a lot out of the players physically and you have to freshen up the front end of the pitch if we want to play the way we play and play with the energy and intensity that we want to play with.

‘Actually, with Tyler, I think that was his best game for us.

‘I’ll probably get criticised for saying that, but all I can do is tell you what I think.

‘He was unlucky not to score and we feel it is coming for him.

‘That’s a real positive for us because when it does it will help us dramatically.’