Sunderland got a lucky break when they missed out on John Marquis to Portsmouth

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John Marquis has scored once in 11 League One games for Pompey after Sunderland missed out.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way for John Marquis or Portsmouth.

With a heartbreaking defeat in the play-off semi-finals still fresh in their minds, Pompey went out and paid up to £2 million for a striker who plundered 21 goals in League One last season (The News).

But the prolific finishing that turned Marquis into one of the division’s most feared centre-forwards at Doncaster Rovers has been nowhere to be seen since he swapped the Keepmoat for Fratton Park.

Marquis has scored once in 11 league games, two in 15 overall, for Kenny Jackett’s struggling side this season and it’s not as if a lack of service can be blamed either. Marquis has had plenty of chances but, like in Saturday’s maddening last-gasp defeat at relegation threatened AFC Wimbledon, he’s simply squandered them.

And, ironically enough, it was the side who beat Portsmouth in the play-off semi-final back in May who lost out to the 2008 FA Cup winners when Marquis became available in the off-season.

According to the Northern Echo, the former Millwall striker wanted to join Sunderland in January after the Black Cats had a £2 million bid rejected (Chronicle). Jack Ross was still keen to land his long-term target in the summer too before Marquis made the long trip to the South Coast instead.

But given that Sunderland have already squandered around £5 million on both Will Grigg and Charlie Wyke in the last year or so, the last thing the cash-strapped Wearsiders needed was another big-name, big-money centre-forward suffering a crisis of confidence in the final third.

Goals have been in short supply for Sunderland this season. They lost 1-0 at Wycombe on Saturday with Phil Parkinson’s arrival failing to bring about anything resembling a ‘new manager bounce’.

But as Marquis continues to squirm shots high, wide and not very handsome in the blue of Portsmouth, it looks like Sunderland have dodged a £2 million bullet.