'It's frightening': The Portsmouth winger warning for Marko Milovanovic after Colby Bishop struggles
Colby Bishop and Josh Murphy started just nine Blues games together in 2025-26
It represented a well-worked Pompey equaliser, with Colby Bishop’s second-half header earning a gutsy Hawthorns point.
As ever, the architect was Josh Murphy, conjuring up yet another sumptuous delivery from the left and, on this August 2025 occasion, snaffled up with relish by the Blues’ centre-forward.
‘It’s a pleasure to have balls like that as a striker and he puts so much pace onto them. They’re amazing and it’s just about trying to make the right contact.
‘You try to guide the ball towards the goal and if you can do that, then the keeper doesn’t really have a chance.’
Bishop would register four goals in 43 appearances during the worst-scoring season of his playing career - and that West Brom moment was the only time he netted from a cross.
Portsmouth chasing Marko Milovanovic
With Pompey presently pursuing UD Almeria’s Marko Milovanovic to solve their obvious goal problems, they will also need to ramp up their supply line to fully utilise the striker’s talents.
Certainly it’s an observation which won’t be lost on Bishop, who was restricted to sharing a Blues starting line-up with the talismanic Murphy on just nine occasions in 2025-26.
Indeed, no other Pompey player suffered more from the former Oxford United man’s injury-ravaged season, which saw the winger absent from 67 per cent of fixtures, totalling just 16 outings.
Should the Milovanovic transfer come to fruition, he would undoubtedly require assistance from a fully-fit Murphy to thrive - just as Bishop benefited in 2024-25.
Murphy instrumental for Bishop in 2024-25
Following his surprise early return from heart surgery in November 2024, the ex-Accrington man plundered 11 goals in 32 appearances to finish as leading scorer for a third-straight campaign.
That tally consisted of three penalties - Preston (November 2024), Stoke (January 2025) and Norwich (April 2025).
Of the remaining eight goals, all netted from open play, Murphy had created six of them for an ever-grateful Bishop as Pompey finished 16th in the Championship.
Against Bristol City (December 2024) there was the pass inside to Bishop, which the striker finished right-footed at the second attempt, while against Swansea (January 2025) he converted Murphy’s left-wing pass with a first-time shot.
Cardiff (February 2025) arrived from a Murphy pass from the left, with Bishop taking a touch before finishing right-footed from 10 yards. Preston (March 2025) came from a Murphy left-wing corner which Bishop steered into the net from four yards.
The moment which completed his hat-trick at Norwich (April 2025) was a first-time left-footed shot from the edge of the six-yard box after Murphy had pulled the ball back from the byline.
Finally, the goal which secured Pompey’s Championship future in a 1-0 triumph over Watford (April 2025) involved Murphy crossing from the left, keeper Egil Selvik fumbling, and Bishop bundling the winner over the line.
Three goals from open play in 2025-26
Last season, Bishop was largely deprived of the services of the classy attacker, who had won 14 individual awards in the 2024-25 Player of the Season stakes, including Players’ Player of the Season.
While a fine header levelled at West Brom in August 2025 for a 1-1 draw, the pair would subsequently feature on pitch together just 13 more times last term.
Of Bishop’s other three goals in 2025-26, he struck against Arsenal (January 2026) after Kepa Arrizabalaga had parried Conor Chaplin’s shot, while there was a successful penalty in the 3-1 win at Charlton (February 2026).
Finally, he grabbed the Blues’ second in the April 2026 victory over Ipswich with a left-footed finish from inside the six-yard box after John Swift had twice seen goal attempts blocked.
Tellingly, none were from crosses and none arrived when Murphy was alongside Bishop on the field of play.
How Pompey - and Bishop - need Josh Murphy fit and firing again next season. And potential arrival Marko Milovanovic would also benefit from having one of the Championship’s most devastating attackers providing the ammunition.