6 hours Ago By Mark McMahon
Portsmouth FC 'Serious play-off contenders' - Portsmouth's incredible league position from date of Colby Bishop's return from heart surgery By Mark McMahon Comment Published 26th Apr 2025, 08:57 BST Colby Bishop celebrates scoring on his return from heart surgery against Preston North End on November 9. | National World He introduced a little bit of magic to Pompey’s season upon his welcome return from heart surgey at the beginning of November. Sign up to our Portsmouth FC newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
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And Colby Bishop’s presence in the Blues team ever since certainly did the trick as he helped John Mousinho’s side secure their Championship status with two games of the season remaining. With 11 goals in 30 appearances - including a perfect hat-trick against Norwich on Good Friday - the 28-year-old provided the focal point Pompey so desperately needed up front, despite Callum Lang ’s impressive efforts to keep the Fratton Park outfit afloat in the second tier. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On that basis along, his importance to this current Blues side should not be underestimated, with 20-plus goals in each of his two previous seasons on the south coast testiment to that.
There’s other ways to highlight the striker’s value to Mousinho’s match-day plans, though. And perhaps the most startling is Pompey’s record before and after his return. Before his grand entrance as a 78th-minute substitute against Preston North End - a game in which he scored from the penalty spot - on November 9, the Blues sat rock bottom of the Championship table with just nine points secured from 14 games.
With just one win from those fixtures, the Blues had a win rate of just seven percent and looked odds on for a League One return at the first time of asking. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Yet, fast forward to the present today and ahead of Pompey’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday, and you’ll see Bishop & Co sitting 16th in the standings - six points clear of the relegation zone on 52 points and with 13 wins from their 30 games played since . That represents a win rate of 43 percent.
Oh, and there’s also a realistic possibility the Blues could finish in the top half of the table come the end of the season. Of course, that’s not all down to Bishop’s presence. Yet it’s no coincidence either, though.
A case of what could have been when his seventh-minute penalty was saved by Zetterstrom. Picked himself up, though, and caused problems aerially throughout. With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at what the Championship table would look like if the season began on November 9 - the date of Bishop’s return.
And it shows Pompey would have been serious play-off contenders with the centre-forward back in their ranks and firing on all cylinders. Championship table from November 9 and Colby Bishop’s Pompey return 1 Burnley - 70pts 2 Leeds United - 68pts 3 Sheffield United - 61pts 4 Coventry City - 51pts 5 Bristol City - 48pts 6 Sunderland - 46pts 7 Queens Park Rangers - 43pts 8 Blackburn Rovers - 43pts 9 Pompey - 43pts 10 Middlesbrough - 42pts 11 Swansea - 41pts 12 Millwall - 41pts 13 West Bromwich Albion - 38pts 14 Sheffield Wednesday - 38pts 15 Norwich City - 35pts 16 Preston North End - 34pts 17 Hull City - 33pts 18 Stoke City - 32pts 19 Oxford United - 32pts 20 Watford - 31pts 21 Luton Town - 31pts 22 Derby County - 28pts 23 Cardiff City - 28pts 24 Plymouth Argyle - 28pts For your next Pompey read: 18 realistic Championship and League One free agents Portsmouth could sign this summer - including West Brom, Plymouth and Coventry aces Continue Reading Related topics: Pompey Comment Comment Guidelines National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting.
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