Makenzie Kirk’s goal for Northern Ireland Under-21s against Latvia on Tuesday was the first goal scored by a Pompey striker in six weeks
It’s official - MacKenzie Kirk can consider himself to be Pompey’s most in-form striker!
Not that much is needed at present to be awarded that precious moniker.
Between them this season to date, Kirk (one), Colby Bishop (three) and Thomas Waddingham (zero) - the Blues’ recognised central attacking options - have registered just four goals for John Mousinho’s Championship side.
That’s a mediocre total that goes a long way to explain the Blues’ current battle against relegation back to League One. It also sheds light on why Pompey are the fifth lowest goalscorers in the division with eight games left to play.
A minor miracle, meanwhile, will also be require if any are to reach the seven-goal mark for the season, with no Blues side ever failing to have a player record less than seven goals in a campaign. At present, attacking midfielder Adrian Segecic (six) is Pompey’s current best hope of avoiding that embarrassment.
If Bishop were able to repeat the hat-trick heroics he produced at Norwich’s Carrow Road on Good Friday last season this year, hope may unexpectedly emerge.
But with the out-of-sorts 29-year-old on a seven-match streak without a goal and his last notch from open play in the league dating back to August 23, 2025, that is unfortunately unlikely.
Injury-stricken Waddingham could have six games to resurrect his season and establish himself in Fratton folklore if he, as anticipated, ends his seven months out with a quad injury by making his comeback appearance against Middlesbrough on April 11.
However, with just one goal in his 10 appearances for the club following his January 2025 arrival from Brisbane Roar, there’s a lot of work to be done for the 20-year-old to become Pompey’s end-of-season saviour.
As a result, Kirk finds himself in the unlikely position as the Blues’ current biggest goal threat going into the season run-in, if his effort for Northern Ireland under-21s against Latvia is anyhting to go by!
In honesty, his 30th-minute strike from close range shouldn’t propel him to the status of Pompey’s big hope. After all, the 22-year-old former St Johnstone man hasn’t been able to nail down a starting place in Mousinho’s squad despite their clear and obvious problems up front.
To date, four of Kirk’s 14 Championship appearances this season have come as starts, while he has remained an unused substitute on 10 occasions.
However, his goal for Tommy Wright’s under-21s was the first goal a recognised Blues striker has scored in six weeks. It’s also only the third time a Blues centre-forward has found the net in 2026.
It’s hardly going to put the fear of God into Championship defences. But as Pompey’s ‘most in-form striker’ and his confidence boosted by his second ever goal on the international stage, it’s a starting point that cannot be dismissed going into the final eight games of the season.
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