I thought this was our least good (describing it as worst would make it sound bad, which it wasn’t) performance of the season yet we got our second away point and for the first time on our travels didn’t concede two or more goals. And this was without the injured (again) Elliott Moore and for the second half Ben Nelson too, meaning our centre-half partnership had to be changed and changed again. Not helpful but given these circumstances and taking something from a game when we know we can be better I’ll declare that as a positive.
I don’t know what the home support will be thinking. They’re still to win 9 games in and are second bottom on 5 points. If they’d come out on top here they would now only be three points behind us. As it stands we remain tenth, still 4 points off a play-off place but now 5 points above the bottom three – an improvement from the previous set of fixtures.
In the first half I commented that we weren’t playing Championship football. Pompey were the better side – more direct and looking threatening. We weren’t really keeping the ball and were giving it away much too cheaply a lot of the time. When Jamie Cumming had to go long that was it – the ball either went out of play or, if hit down the middle, was won easily by a blue shirt as Mark Harris doesn’t have the height or bulk to prevent this. Not his fault.
But, and this is what makes me wonder at times if I’m anywhere near really understanding football, it was us creating the better chances. So we must have been doing something right.
If we hadn’t committed that old sin of failing to put away presentable chances, including at least one very easy one, we could well have won this game by half time. Undeservedly so some would argue.
Ruben Rodrigues put a chance on a plate for Mark Harris, cutting the ball back to him on the edge of the six-yard box. It was begging to be thrashed into the back of the net. Sparky swung, didn’t make a proper connection and somehow made more contact with his left foot which wasn’t the one he was trying to score with. That wasn’t the Harris who scored in each of the first four games of the season; it was the Harris that we declared not to be a natural goal-scorer when he arrived.
Rodrigues is one of the best players around at making un-noticed runs from midfield into the penalty area. On one occasion he did this and was picked out superbly from out wide by Ciaron Brown. If we’d been on clinical form that was another chance that would have been buried. More difficult than Harris’s and probably a bit unfair to say that he messed up too. Would a first time effort on goal have been the better option? It wasn’t the easiest ball to take but he usually has a tremendous first touch. This time it needed to be near perfect and it wasn’t. For his second touch, which was an off balance shot with his other foot, his left, he sliced wide and fell over. But if you don’t try these things the rewards will never come.
The closest we came was after Idris El Mizouni had burst through with skill, determination and a bit of luck. He aimed the ball with accuracy low and just inside the far post but a finger-tip from keeper Nicolas Schmid, making his Portsmouth League debut, denied him. Will Norris, who’d let in 6 at Stoke, didn’t even make the bench. The back-up ready to appear if need be was one time Oxford United loanee Jordan Archer.
Rodrigues had another chance when coming racing into the box and sliding in on a ball from the by-line which Goodrham had put in after he’d brilliantly robbed defender Regan Poole. This was a difficult one. Proof here that no opponent can ever take their eyes off Tyler and RR.
Also worth remembering that opponents usually miss good opportunities and golden chances go begging in the Premier League too so can’t expect perfection and shouldn’t be too critical. The good thing is we’re making chances.
But goal-less it was at the break and my reasoning now was that whichever team really got at the other’s defence would win the game. They didn’t look watertight and I feared a bit given the way we were playing and who was missing. As early as the third minute it hadn’t looked like it would be this way though with the hosts awarded a penalty. Harshly awarded I thought. Will Vaulks’ arm was flailing about but it hit him from point blank range. Surely not a deliberate attempt to stop the ball. Arm not by his side? Not in a natural position? But what’s a natural position? I don’t know why I’m banging on about this because I honestly don’t know the laws of the game on this matter without looking them up and I can’t be arsed. Academic anyway because Jamie Cumming, with speedy reactions, got down to ground level to stop Elias Sorensen’s kick and then ensure there was no follow up with a punch out for a corner.
That shut the noisy home support up for a bit. They’d been giving it large when referee Lewis Smith pointed to the spot. It was our turn to give some back after JC’s heroics.
The range of Smith’s refereeing activities is interesting. In 2024 so far he’s officiated in League Two, League One and the Championship. A week ago he was in charge of the Premier League game between Ipswich and Fulham and in March he refereed two games in the Japanese JL1 and one in JL2.
Portsmouth took the lead 13 minutes into the second half. I was just about to comment to my mate that I thought we looked shaky when it happened. No real surprise that it was made by Josh Murphy. We know what a player he was for us at the back end of last season. Given how good he is I thought Peter Kioso played him pretty well. Here though he just made ground quickly and whipped in a delicious cross as he does even with defenders close by. A little more effort from Kioso and Kyle Edwards to prevent that ball coming over wouldn’t have gone amiss though. The glancing header from Brighton loanee Mark O’Mahony was a very good finish. Overall probably more a case of well worked by them than obvious mistakes by us.
Their crowd was bouncing again. We know what an atmosphere they can create there. It’s proper football fare. I hate it when it happens when we’re there obviously because we’re on the receiving end but that’s what football is all about. And our lot, nearly 2k of them, were well capable of making a racket too. It’s a place that rocks even when kick-off is at 12:30 in the sunshine. Gestures to and fro over the divide but not a hint of anything being carried over into the streets afterwards. Exactly as it should be. Des noted “the wonderful atmosphere”.
For the second time in four days we were in an old school environment but the view at Fratton Park, whilst nowhere near perfect, is vastly superior to that at Kenilworth Road. With Pompey’s home being about twice the size of Luton’s that’s not surprising. The pillars are nowhere near as restrictive. I’m really warming to this rail seating although let’s be honest its rail standing. You’ve got your own space to stand in and a barrier to lean on. Bit like the old days when you’d managed to find a crush barrier to lean on but without the risk of actually being painfully crushed against it. Yes I’m getting old but not old enough yet to have at any time considered actually sitting in my seat.
At one down my worry was that we didn’t have the leaders like Cameron Brannagan on the park to get us back into it by sheer determination and hard work. Was there a midfield battle to be won? Not sure as Portsmouth weren’t playing patient football in that area.
I believe in the squad we’ve got but on the day should have had more faith. Less than a quarter of an hour later and after Des had made three substitutions, we were level. Siriki Dembele replaced Edwards on 61 minutes. Then nine minutes later off went Rodrigues and Harris with Louie Sibley and Dane Scarlett coming on. A couple of minutes later we’d drawn level with both heavily involved.
We’d knocked the ball about a bit and when it came to Goodrham, facing his own goal and under pressure from Connor Ogilvie, he had the confidence to turn and run with the ball. Ogilvie chased back and got a foot on the ball but it was a combination of Sibley and Scarlett who ensured we came away with it. Scarlett angled a beautiful pass to Kioso. Sibley strode purposefully into space and asked for the ball. Kioso obliged. With his first touch he controlled and with his second he arrowed home from four yards outside the penalty area. Schmid didn’t move. The touch it took off a blue shirted defender was irrelevant. They weren’t expecting us to hit them like that. Our turn this time to raise the decibels.
Both sides could easily have gone on to win it.
We very nearly gifted them a goal. Under no pressure at all Greg Leigh just whacked a clearance way up into the air but not away from danger. Vaulks’s attempt to do battle with Marlon Pack for the ball as it dropped was pretty pathetic which meant Christian Saydee ended up with a chance to shoot that he should never have been given. Cumming spilled it and it then looked odds on that we’d let in another. Our keeper immediately redeemed himself getting a hand to Sorensen’s effort. Again they were sharper than us and onto the loose ball. Again odds on it would end up in the net I thought. But no, Sam Long had positioned himself in the six yard box and stuck out a left leg at the risk of groin damage to deny O’Mahony a second. We’d been very very sloppy but got away with it eventually at the expense of a corner from which Portsmouth again nearly scored. They couldn’t have come closer. Ogilvie’s header hit the post and then rolled across goal behind Cumming almost on the line before Sibley thumped it away. How it didn’t hit our keeper and go in I don’t know.
Next it was our turn. Portsmouth didn’t deal with a ball dropping out of the sky on the halfway line. Scarlett was being a bit of a nuisance and the ball got to Dembele who was away. He made his way inside the area but fired wide. Shoved by Jordan Williams as he was shooting and so putting him off balance. Great defending or a blatant foul? I’ll have to look at the laws of the game on that one too. Dembele didn’t appeal. I wonder if he’d just taken another touch and cut slightly to his left and been completely taken out by Williams if that would have been the better option. Still no guarantee the penalty would have been given or that we would have scored it though.
Yet still we nearly lost it. Murphy hit a low ball into the box and it hit Kioso which diverted it goal- wards and going in by the near post. Another super stop by Cumming meant it didn’t.
Looking back after the event I’ll admit that this was better entertainment than I thought whilst on the premises. That’s because at the time I get so wound up just wanting the points. I’d often go as far as questioning whether I enjoy it much at all until it’s all over. The tension does not disappear with age but we do it because we love it really.
Watching some of the guys we’ve got at present wearing the shirt is an absolute privilege.
These early kick-offs have really changed the habits of an away day. Pre-match drinking time, if any, very much being restricted. Some pubs do open early though to accommodate the thirsty fan. The Rose in June was one such establishment and the beer was as good as last year. Just one pint though due to those time constraints and the fact that I was driving.
Next game home to WBA on Saturday 19 October after the international break. Kick-off 12:30. Well it would be wouldn’t it? See you then.
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another fine mash from ox9encoding