Whittingham pleased with striking Pompey balance

It may have drawn a Dean Court blank but Guy Whittingham believes his new striking recruits have finally provided Pompey with balance.

John Akinde and Patrick Agyemang were granted instant debuts in the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth, partnering each other in a powerful-looking attack.

That meant James Keene and Ashley Harris – who led the line in the previous match at Scunthorpe – had to move to the bench.

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In addition, Pompey have David Connolly on their books, with the veteran striker still sidelined with a hamstring problem and will again be missing tonight.

Options are clearly now there for Whittingham with his strike force – and he is banking on them delivering the goals, starting at Hartlepool tonight.

He said: ‘It’s like a pre-season game every week because you are having different people in all the time.

‘With John and Patrick, they are something we missed. We felt we needed that type of player in.

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‘We’ve got two in to look at and hopefully they will produce the goods for us.

‘James (Keene) hasn’t had a game since October, so suddenly for him to come in and play so many games in a row, it was probably a time where we could give him a rest against Bournemouth.

‘We all know the amount of work he gets through during a game.

‘We are hoping for Connolly to be back on Saturday and you can’t miss out Ashley Harris as well, so we have got good competition there.

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‘What is important for tonight’s game is, of the four of those who can play, three can play in different positions as well.

‘Probably Akinde is the out-and-out forward, whereas Patrick can play wide of a three, as can James Keene and so can Ashley, so there are options for us.

‘I thought the two new strikers on Saturday did well.

‘It was their first game, the first time they played together so things are not going to work straight away.

‘But I thought they provided a bit more of an aerial threat for us that we didn’t have before.

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‘Both of them have got decent touches so we are not looking to lump it.

‘We are looking to get it forward to them and for them to control the ball well and bring other players into play whenever they can.’