Portsmouth assistant manager Joe Gallen has spoken out about Brett Pitman's omission from the Pompey side recently, as reported by the Portsmouth News.

The prolific striker has struggled for game time in the early part of the season but made a scoring comeback in the EFL Trophy game against Crawley recently.

Pitman claimed after the game that nobody else on the squad could have scored the goal he did and Gallen believes the striker means guaranteed goals when he does play.

"Let’s be honest, as soon as Brett gets onto the pitch he manages to score goals. In terms of him wanting to play more league games, that Crawley goal will not do his chances any harm. We all know his goal-scoring here is very good – and we have a lot of options."

Those options are the reason the former Ipswich and Bournemouth man is not currently getting a run of games, with big summer signing John Marquis not the only person standing in his way.

"John Marquis has scored a couple so far, we have Ellis Harrison, while Ryan Williams on his way back hopefully around the Burton game.

"Gareth Evans has played number 10, Andy Cannon’s played a bit there, Oli Hawkins, who no-one ever wants to mention at this club, is coming back and I am very pleased that he is.

"There are a lot of options and, in the pecking order at the moment, John has the shirt. I’m sure Brett is not only putting John under pressure, but the number 10 and other good players."

Pitman has scored 39 goals for Kenny Jackett's side in 88 appearances since moving from Ipswich in 2017.

The Verdict

Brett Pitman is a confident character and he won't want to be sat on the bench this season; he had enough of that last time out.

After an outstanding season in 2017/18, he's struggled to make a starting spot his own. He was dropped for Oli Hawkins last season and is definitely down the pecking order this time out.

He's in the last year of his contract too and that won't bode well for the 31-year-old, who might have to move on to find regular football next season.