This is just how good Portsmouth believing John Marquis is performing as goal spree continues

That’s the certain view of Blues assistant, Joe Gallen, as the striker made it seven goals in six with his two-goal salvo in the 3-1 win over Lincoln City.

Marquis grabbed the first two goals to set his team on the way to victory with a textbook away display.

And Gallen feels the striker’s confidence is thriving as he shows the deadly eye for a finish he’s come to be associated with in his career.

He said: ‘John has taken his goals very well.

‘The first was a brilliant finish out of nothing which gave us a good start.

‘The second goal was John in the goalscoring position he needs to be in between the centre-halves when the ball goes into the box.

‘When you head the ball down you’ve always got a good chance of it going in.

‘We have to say well done to him. He led the line brilliantly, scored two goals and is in the form of his Pompey career.’

Pompey’s success means they avoided back-to-back league defeats with it now 655 days since they’ve suffered such a fate.

That run stretches back to January 2019, and Gallen explained avoiding falling to successive losses was on the players’ minds.

Gallen felt Pompey managed to produce a display which could have delivered more goals.

The excellent Ryan Williams could have found himself on the scoresheet while there were other chances for the likes of Marcus Harness.

Gallen added: ‘We were very determined and the players in particular were determined not to lose two games on the trot after Saturday.

‘That was a frustrating result after what I thought was quite a strong performance.

‘Ultimately, though, we’re here to win and I thought we played very well scoring three goals - but I thought it could have been a lot more.’