Blackpool promotion rivals Portsmouth suffer striker injury blow as race for Championship places heats up

Blackpool promotion rivals Portsmouth have suffered what could prove to be a telling injury blow.

Eleven-goal top-scorer Colby Bishop, who Marvin Ekpiteta and Matthew Pennington kept quiet during the Seasiders' 4-0 win at Fratton Park last Saturday, suffered an ankle injury in the first half of the Blues' midweek win at Burton Albion. It's set to rule the former Accrington front man out of Portsmouth's League One trip to Northampton on Saturday. Meanwhile, there's concerns Bishop could miss more games as the south-coast side await the results of a scan.

That will be of huge concern to Portsmouth, who sit second in the table behind behind current league leaders Bolton only on goal difference. Regarded as one of the best strikers in League One, Bishop is the joint-third highest goalscorer in the third tier this season and has bagged 35 goals in 73 appearances for Pompey following his £500,000 move down south last summer. His eye for goal will no doubt be missed if he's sidelined for any length of time - handing all promotion-chasers a boost as the race for the Championship heats up.

That includes Blackpool, who are eighth in the table heading into their FA Cup second-round tie against Forest Green Rovers on Saturday. They are nine points off top spot and three points adrift of the play-off places, after their surprise defeat at the hands of Northampton on Tuesday night.

Like Bishop, the Seasiders' top scorer this term, Jordan Rhodes, is on 11 for the season following his finely-taken goal against the Cobblers in midweek. He, too, would be a big miss if he was unexpectedly taken out of the equation for Blackpool.

Speaking specifically about Bishop after last week's win against the Blues, Neil Critchley told the Gazette: "You know, if you're coming to Portsmouth and you're playing against John's team, then Colby Bishop is a big focal point for them. He's a real handful and if you don't keep him quiet he can have a huge bearing on the outcome of the game. Fortunately, we defended well against him. He had some good moments, he's a good player but to keep him relatively quiet, we did a good job defensivley.'