Portsmouth desperately need back-up – as defender's shock position and these stats from past 10 years prove: gallery

It’s why, each transfer window, every manager up and down the land wants to sign a front man who will deliver in front of goal.

It’s also why you pay a premium for a striker and, more likely than not, fork out the big bucks on their wages.

Luckily, Pompey struck gold when they landed Colby Bishop last summer, with the Blues’ £500,000 arrival scoring 23 goals in all competitions to date this season. 19 have arrived in the league.

Yet, as the Fratton Park side have proven this term, you cannot simply rely on just one man to bang in the goals. It’s a team game after all.

You need back-up. But, unfortunately, that’s not been available this season.

Indeed, the fact left-back Connor Ogilvie currently sits second behind Bishop in Pompey’s 2022-23 goalscoring charts, with five, says it all.

But just how much have the Blues been let down by a lack of goals from elsewhere?

Here, we compare the league goals scored by each of Pompey’s runners-up in the scoring charts over the past 10 years to see if this term is a one-off.

Here’s what we discovered.