Back from the Game - Pompey

[semtex1871]

Read elsewhere there was an incident with Carl Dickinson and their fans - what happened ?

after the game, he and some other players were exercising over by the away end, a group of about 6 fans (including the tattoed man with the bell) started giving them abuse and Carl Dickinson run at them and tried to get into the stands! He had to be dragged away a few times before being led off by the trainer! Very funny to watch....

Any news on Leigertwood?

Was speaking to him yesterday and he said he absolutely loves it at Reading, best club he's ever been at and would defo stay....asked if he was looking forward to rejoining QPR if they go up though and he said he wasn't and that they may not even want him.....

He was sat in box 25 watching the game with Mills, Hunt et al......interesting to see Sonko sat in the Lower West with Feds.....

[paultheroyal]

Not the best of games but a win is a win. Could easily had three goals converted against us, and in my opinion it was a poor showing by us second half. We do seem to struggle against 10 men.

But with that team, knowing we have Mills, Griffin, Leigertwood to walk straight back into the team things are looking good.

Was it this guy getting stick as well towards the end of the game?

[PieEater]

I must admit I feared the worst after seeing our makeshift starting line up compared to Pompey's. At least 5 of their players would walk into our team.

What on earth has happened to Legs? On the OS it just says he's being monitored. Without him our midfield looked weaker despite playing two holding midfielders (at home) but I guess that's what we need to give Howard some freedom to play in his best position.

I thought we started the game slowly and Kitson missed 2 great chances, one header and the rebound from Nugent's shot. The breakaway for Long's goal was just when you thought Pompey were going to take one of their chances, a great pass from Kebe to Karacan to Long who fired a great shot that just bounced under Ashdown.

The second was a clear red card for me, but it was hard to tell whether it was inside the area or not, a break for us but not for the first time this season we seem to be incapable of playing against 10 men and Pompey seemingly controlling the game but creating few chances.

We then score two goals, both disallowed for handball controlling the ball, IMHO both were tough calls and on another day we would have got away with at least of them, so maybe that evens up the dubious penalty decision.

So a great win, moving into the playoffs and the opportunity to consolidate that position on Tuesday.

[sandman]

By all accounts, the Pompey chairman was sayt in the away end today and towards the end was chased out by a members of the Pompey firm who wanted to discuss the result and other matters related to the club with him.

I don't know why they were chasing him. He sold the club at half time to the guy sitting next to him.

[biscuitman]

Sorry mate but it wasn't that great a pass.

Rubbish. Seen it in real time and on TV now. Quality pass.

[RoyalBlue]

Thought Howard was class today, showed some great touches on the ball and played some very good passes. McCarthy again made some great saves, albeit one of them coming from his mistake. Bryn solid as ever. Kanu looked lively when he came on. Quite gutted Church's goal was dissallowed though.

Not the best second half, but the job was done and the points are in the bag

Worst game ive ever seen from Mcanuff. Constantly lost the ball/looked disinterested. Always took the wrong option.

Roll on tuesday.

Don't agree with this. Thought he looked lively when going forward and seemed to beat his man on the outside a lot more today than usual.

Are you for real? McAnuff was awful and disinterested

An unreal criticism!!

So disinterested that he bothered to get himself booked for a challenge and then was living on the brink with some other challenges!

He was not awful. He produced some good runs and battled away well. Very much doubt McD would have subbed him but for the fact that a second yellow looked like it wasn't far away.

[RoyalBlue]

What a complete and utter load of bollox!! He had already produced a succession of great passes prior to that. There was also an incident when he just dipped his shoulder to wrong-foot two opponents and burst past them towards the goal only to be brought down for the free-kick in a central position that Harte came very close to scoring from.

He also displayed great skill immediately before the fantastic pass that led to the penalty. He found himself out wide on the left midway inside his own half and surrounded by three opponents. You could see him look around to try to find a team-mate to lay the ball off to. When he couldn't see anyone he somehow wriggled away from the players closing on him,worked his way down the touchline and then curled that delightfully weighted and placed pass around the centre back and straight into Long's run.

Sorry mate but it wasn't that great a pass.
We were sat right behind it and it was a pass that the centre-back should have dealt with easily but he made a hash of it and brought Long down.
On chances made Pompey could have been about 6-2 up by half-time but football is about taking chances and we took ours.
As ever the manager was spot on in the interview afterwards in saying that we were poor in the second half-isn't it good to have a bloke like him (and Coppell) who is not full of the bullshit that we got from Pardew and Rodgers?.
The good thing is that without Jobi or Kebe firing we still won.
Talking of Kebe I wonder why he has stopped trying to go past his man-today it was the ancient Hreidarsson who was there for the taking.
He really hasn't been the same since the injury.

Just seen it again and it was, as I thought, at the time a cracking pass
Also confirmed my suspicion that contact was outside the box - Oh well!

Agree with both comments bcubed. We were sat in line with Howard on the East Stand side of the pitch when he produced the pass and therefore, unlike those sat behind, were able to appreciate just how far he hit the pass and how he curved it around the covering player and the centre back. It was not only the pass that was so good but also the way he managed to work his way out of a very tight situation and into room to make the pass.

As for the 'penalty', I can now understand why the Pompey fans were so annoyed with the lino! I was unaware that the D comprised part of the penalty area!

So their fans are giving Kitson a hard time. They also took the hump that Kitson came over to clap the Reading fans at the end of the game but ignored their lot.

Kitson back to Reading?? Any thoughts??

We can't afford his current wages and wouldn't want him on his current form: if I was a Portsmouth fan, I would be really annoyed with him becuase there were some bad misses yesterday. Nugent, on the other hand, worked his socks off and deserved better than a 2-0 defeat.

He may have worked his socks off but it must have been his mouth that was most tired! Whinging, niggly little git! Friend should be marked right down by his assessor for failing to give Nugent a yellow for his blatent bit of dissent when he brought the ball under control and then belted it high into the stands when he was pulled up for offside. That was by no means the first time he had displayed dissent either.

Nugent fully deserved the 2-0 defeat because he was even more crap than Kitson. No threat at all whenever he got the ball. I was sad to see him taken off!

[Snowball]

Into the play-offs and a win on Tuesday (NOT a formality bearing in mind Preston's recent form - 3 wins on the trot) will mean that even a defeat to Forest next Saturday won't dislodge us from 6th.

They say hate can so easily turn into love...

H Preston

If we beat Preston (not a given, they've found some form) we'll be 20 points from 8 games
2.5 ppg (115 Pt season) comfortably in the top six and will need just 10 points from the following 7 games

[ZacNaloen]

Simon Church is a player who despite his form recently is someone I'd really like to turn the corner and do well, so I was disappointed to see his goal disallowed yesterday. Especially as he didn't hand ball it.

[LoyalRoyal22]

My ratings

alex- 7
bryn- 5
Harte- 6
zurab- 6
Ivar- 6
Kebe- 6
Jobi- 5
karacan- 7
Tabb- 7
Howard- 8
Long- 8

also though robson-kanu came on and looked good again, i like him because he is quick and strong. Him and Karacan are improving nicely.

[loyalroyal4life]

We didnt play well but didnt feel we really had to. I actually feel Tuesday's game will be alot tougher as I can't see Preston playing as offensive as Pompey.

Nice to see the 4-5-1 work ok and i thought Howard had a decent game.

Still Leighterwood to come in perhaps at expense of Karacan if we stick 4-5-1?

[Royal With Cheese]

I actually feel Tuesday's game will be alot tougher as I can't see Preston playing as offensive as Pompey.

Are you sure? A draw for Preston will do them absolutely no good whatsoever.

[brendywendy]

Simon Church is a player who despite his form recently is someone I'd really like to turn the corner and do well, so I was disappointed to see his goal disallowed yesterday. Especially as he didn't hand ball it.

nowt wrong with that imo either. cracking finish too, really felt for him.

he did ok though. as did HRK who is really improving this year

[Stranded]

Good result and great to be in the play off places, will be interesting to see how being in there affects the mindset of the team and fans alike. It's very different looking to cement a place in the top six rather than chasing one down.

[roadrunner]

I actually feel Tuesday's game will be alot tougher as I can't see Preston playing as offensive as Pompey.

Are you sure? A draw for Preston will do them absolutely no good whatsoever.

'greed. They'll come here looking for the win or nothing. They're too far behind to mess about hoping for a point. Defeat to Reading next week and a Palace win and they're all but down.

17 Coventry City 39 45
18 Middlesbrough 38 45
19 Derby County 39 44
20 Doncaster Rovers 39 44
21 Crystal Palace 39 42
--------------------------------
22 Sheffield United 38 35
23 Preston North End 38 34
24 Scunthorpe United 39 34

[brendywendy]

Good result and great to be in the play off places, will be interesting to see how being in there affects the mindset of the team and fans alike. It's very different looking to cement a place in the top six rather than chasing one down.

hopefully it will mean increased gates till the end of the season, and id imagine that early season ticket offer is starting to look more and more tempting to the people thinking about not bothering to renew this time.

[KC Royal]

Some quick thoughts. Less expectation (thought 0-0) big crowd and it felt like a big game. There were good signs yesterday. Massive massive result, and cracking atmosphere, in the first half at least. Really Bit of a disappointment 2nd half, but good game overall.

Awful performance by the officials, so many mistakes i've probably missed one. Sat in Y19 and they gave a Pompey corner when McCarthy clearly kept the ball in play even though he was behind the line, although they gave a corner to us which i wasn't sure was in the 2nd half. 2nd half Ashdown picked up a back pass, don't know whether Friend thought it was unintentional but was bemused that nothing was given. Mokoena made a bad tackle on Howard which i expected him to get red for. Haven't seen it back since but maybe it wasn't as bad as first though for him to only get a yellow for. Agree that Nugent should have been booked for kicking the ball away, couldn't really understand why he wasn't.

As for the pen, didn't know at the time being so far away but now know it was outside the box. And although it wasn't easy to tell i said red card straight away, it looked a goalscoring opportunity to me.

Ratings - maybe subject to change later should i see fit

McCarthy 7
Gunnar 8
Ingi 7.5
Zurab 7
Harte 7
Kebe 6.5
Karacan 7
Howard 7
Tabb 7
McAnuff 6
Long 8

HRK 7
Church 6

[biscuitman]

Simon Church is a player who despite his form recently is someone I'd really like to turn the corner and do well, so I was disappointed to see his goal disallowed yesterday. Especially as he didn't hand ball it.

Wasn't him.

[Kitson12]

Simon Church is a player who despite his form recently is someone I'd really like to turn the corner and do well, so I was disappointed to see his goal disallowed yesterday. Especially as he didn't hand ball it.

Wasn't him.

Who handled it in the buildup to his disallowed goal then?

[biscuitman]

Howard handled and then put in the net....