What now needs to happen over Portsmouth's summer recruitment with the clock ticking

Once the weekend trip to Gillingham's Priestfield is out of the way, it’s just Tuesday’s visit to Leyton Orient and the home dress rehearsal against Coventry left until a testing opening-day return to Sheffield Wednesday sees competitive battle recommence.

Saturday, July 30 is now looming large on the horizon.

And when assessing the amount of business still to do Danny Cowley this summer, a degree of trepidation is beginning to creep in.

It may not be the case for too much longer, but for Pompey to be without a senior striker at this stage is virtually unprecedented.

And it remains not so much a hole in Cowley’s squad, as a gaping chasm.

There are a number of factors at play for how we’ve arrived at this point, and it’s worth highlighting few rivals will have their options fully assembled by the end of this month.

But even a cursory assessment of the work still to do, suggests a fairly daunting amount of business still lies in wait.

It’s been clear for some time now that Cowley wants an additional keeper with West Brom’s Josh Grifftihs the long-established favoured option. That would consequently put a question mark over the future of Alex Bass, with ambitious League Two outfit Crawley Town lurking.

Thankfully, the defensive line now looks well stocked for what lies ahead with Joe Rafferty joining Zak Swanson in the right-back position, with Kieron Freeman on his way.

Similarly, the middle of the park is now impressively covered. Marlon Pack has looked everything you would expect him to be and more in pre-season, while Jay Mingi is emerging at quite a pace.

Aligned with Louis Thompson, Joe Morrell and Ryan Tunnicliffe, Pompey's central options stack up favourably at this level.

Ronan Curtis and Marcus Harness could both well depart this summer, too, with each needing a replacement.

Pompey may be well stocked in midfield, but unfortunately in that key forward department that’s far from the case.

We await developments on Joe Pigott, with a loan move for the Ipswich striker very much in the pipeline.

But Cowley has made it clear two further additions will be required there as a minimum.

Leicester hold the cards over a return for George Hirst, with the Blues boss in regular contact with the man who could conceivably be a returning hero if another loan was sealed.

Championship suitors and Ipswich’s financial clout are legitimate concerns over that homecoming becoming a reality, however.

Colby Bishop is favoured, but is that a battle to sink energy into when the likes of MK Dons want him and their balance sheets shows north of £8m from player sales since January?

And where does a move for a big Cowley favourite in Spurs striker Kion Etete stand, if suitors further up the football food chain are keen?

Fans will ask legitimate questions over why things have not happened at a quicker pace up front.

The easy conclusion to arrive at would be it’s the club’s owners and dealmakers who should shoulder the blame - but that’s oversimplifying the issue.

Yes, a loosening of the purse strings would provide answers and there are those who simply won’t shift from that being the core issue here. Fair enough.

Cowley, by his own admission, however, has known the parameters he’s working to for some time now.

He is trying to extricate every last drop out of his playing budget, however, and to compromise his lofty standards and search for pace may be a tough move to make.

Perhaps in not doing so, however, presentable opportunities could fall by the wayside. It’s a tricky balancing act.

The noises made since the end of last week are the key additions are now close to arriving at PO4 this summer.

They need to be - because the clock is ticking.