'He's had pelters from externals and the media': Portsmouth boss backs goal to reinvigorate under-fire striker
The striker’s goal against Blackburn was a fifth in his last 53 appearances in all competitions
He has been on the receiving end of ‘pelters from externals and the media’.
Now John Mousinho believes Colby Bishop will bounce back from the ‘backlash’ and build on his return to goalscoring form.
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen’s shot may have deflected off the long-serving striker’s left shoulder against Blackburn to end his goal drought, but it could be a pivotal moment in the 29-year-old’s season.
It represented Bishop’s fifth goal in his last 53 appearances in all competitions - and a first in his last 10 outings. Considering the prolific nature of much of his Pompey career, it has been a hugely disappointing drop off in form.
But Mousinho is convinced the leveller in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Blackburn can reinvigorate a player whose confidence has been devastated.
‘A massive confidence boost’
The Blues’ head coach told The News: ‘You don’t suddenly become a non-goalscorer overnight when he’s had a couple of seasons of 20-plus goals and the third year where he hardly played and got 11.
‘This is a massive confidence boost. He has plugged away and made sure he kept his head down, ready to impact - as he has done over the past few weeks, whether it’s off the bench or whether it’s starting.
‘Colby is a confident lad, naturally, but if you are taking pelters from externals and media then naturally you are going to lose confidence. Saturday should change it.
‘He’s a goal threat and, while he obviously hasn’t scored as many as he would like over the past season, he can still find a way to the back of the net.
‘The interesting thing with Colby is if you look at last week against Charlton, he didn’t miss any chances, he’s not missing loads, we didn't create enough for him. When you do create chances for him, he does put it into the back of the net.
‘In the first Championship season, one of the things really evident was that, when Murph is on the pitch, it really suits Colby. When we missed Murph last year, it became a bit more difficult because we had a very, very different outlet in the way we were creating, the way we were scoring.
‘Colby will be absolutely fine and Saturday will work wonders for him.’
Scored three minutes after coming off the bench
Bishop had only been on the pitch for three minutes when he grabbed the 74th-minute equaliser to help the Blues to a 2-2 draw.
It was 1-1 at half-time when Zak Swanson’s fourth-minute opener was cancelled out by Dapo Afolayan, then Ryoya Morishita put the visitors in front on 56 minutes.
Yet it was Bishop who would have the final say with his heavily deflected goal marking a first since the 2-0 win over Ipswich in April.
Mousinho added: ‘He has scored goals consistently during my time here, big goals in big moments. Even last year where he would have been disappointed with his return, he still popped up in huge moments such as Ipswich at home.
‘You look at some of the backlash that Colby has had, he scored 24 goals in his first season, 21 in the season, in the third season he had heart surgery and still scored 11, while last season he captained us to stay in the league.
‘So I think he’s probably a bit aggrieved about the reaction to his contribution to the football club.’
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