Paul Cook says he is confident Pompey's board will back him if he wants to buy another striker.

But he has hinted he is happy with his choice of Michael Smith, Curtis Main and Conor Chaplin - saying you don't necessarily need one who will score 20 goals.

He told The News: ‘You never know, I will always keep badgering for more! I have a good chairman in Ian McInnes, to be fair. He wants success and that filters down.

‘If I challenged our board to try to do something and they thought I was being positive in what I was trying to do I am sure they will try to help me. But at the minute those names are very hard to find.’

Cook says he expects goals to be shared around the team and for one player to score 20 he'd need to play in every game.

But he added: 'I don’t believe 20-goal-a-season strikers are necessary. We scored 75 goals last year, so if we have a striker who gets 30 and we get 75 goals then what has changed?

‘If we could get that up past the 80-goal mark the likelihood is you are having a strong season, this is the stuff I look for. I believe Kyle Bennett must score more goals, we know Roberts playing every week will get some, Carl Baker will get goals, Milan Lalkovic will get goals, Evans gets goals, Chaplin gets goals, we are not going to struggle for goals, that’s for sure.'

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