Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley has been explaining why on-loan Blues striker Joe Pigott has played so little football since joining Pompey on a season-long loan in the summer.
The 29-year-old has made only three League One starts and 11 sub appearances, scoring once, in addition to five cup starts and one game from the bench, netting a further two goals.
"We have different options in the top end of the pitch,” Cowley said when quizzed on Pigott’s scant involvement by the Portsmouth News.
"I think you're always trying to find the right blend and partnerships and that's always what you're trying to do.”
In the summer, Cowley confirmed that he had insisted on the loan deal including no January recall clause in case either Pigott had hit a rich vein of form or Pompey had emerged as one of the Blues’ main challengers for promotion.
Asked whether it might now be possible Pigott could return to Portman Road next month, Cowley remained tight-lipped: "I think Joe is a really good character.
"He's been great for this group and he'll rightly be frustrated at the lack of opportunities he's had.
"But Colby [Bishop] and Dane [Scarlett] have formed a good partnership. Colby has scored regularly and, probably, it's Colby or Joe rather than Colby and Joe.
"Colby has performed really well and sometimes, particularly for forward players, you can have a really good player that's in a queue behind a really good player and sometimes they just get in each other's way.”
Pigott has another 18 months left on the three-year deal he signed when he joined the Blues in the summer of 2021 after leaving AFC Wimbledon.