Pre-Match Ruminations

It’s 9 am, my Sunderland shirt is on and I’m feeling full of beans as I get ready to head off to Waterloo and all points Portsmouth. Speaking of points, I think we might actually get one today as Pompey have drawn seven of their home games while winning three and losing two. We could do with Richardson in our team but I’m sure Kenwyne will cause them plenty of trouble. They were without four African Cup of Nations players when we beat them last month, including the impressive Muntari, and will be a lot more difficult to handle today. A point would be a great result for us and our rivals will surely lose points today with Birmingham playing Arsenal, Newcastle at home to Man U and Wigan playing Derby. A result would set us up nicely for next Saturday’s jaunt to Derby and if we can’t get a win there, then we never will. Well, hi ho!

Afterwards

I got to Fratton at pm and was soon ensconced in the Shepherd’s Crook slurping a Strongbow and watching Birmingham take the lead against Arsenal with a dubious free-kick. The atmosphere in there was great with both sets of fans mingling amicably. I had another pint and whatever they were serving must have been having a rejuvenating effect on my 53-year-old face as I was called “Young ‘un” and “Young man” by two different blokes. By the time I left Arsenal were 2-1 up and that set me up nicely for the match.

Fratton Park is a real Mickey Mouse affair but at least the away end is covered now. The Gents possesses the Tardis-like ability to transport you back about forty years. Portsmouth had two mascots; one being a standard blue frog effort but the other was a guy of some advanced years dressed in a sailor suit and holding a wooden placard, looking like he’d also beamed in from at least forty years ago. He got a bit of a ripple from our end; I think people were just a bit stunned. There was a big ripple for a series of very little Portsmouth mascots (and one of ours) who were led round the perimeter of the pitch before the game. Our line-up had no surprises and I was glad to see Leadbitter starting as for me he’s a great battler (Leadbattler?) and can always try a long-distance shot. Bit by bit it dawned on me just who was playing for Portsmouth and they had a lot of big names including Defoe, Campbell, James, Baros and Kanu.

We were okay in the first half and more than held our own without having a serious scoring chance. Our defending was tight and both Evans and Gordon were impressive. New boys Bardsley and Reid looked like good buys to me. The best chance fell to Hreidarsson about five minutes before the break when he stole in at the far post to head narrowly wide. Our end were keeping up regular chanting with a predictable response to the Pompey Chimes of, “Fuck off, Pompey. Pompey fuck off.” The ref was coming in for more than usual stick but responded to a loud chant of “You fat BAS-tard!” with a wave and a grin. There was some bass drum and bell action coming from the Portsmouth end.

At half-time there was another blast from the past when Seventies teen idol (well, just about – he did do a Ready Brek advert once, I think) Peter Marinello came on for a wave. Funnily enough I’d thought of him when I was watching the Arsenal game earlier. Anyway the final score of 2-2 had come to my attention during the first half and that was a bummer. When James took his position after the break he got a decent ripple from our end, which surprised me.

The pace was upped in the second-half and Portsmouth started to spray it around in midfield rather ominously. Leadbitter had our best chance when his direct free-kick went just over but I don’t think we had a shot on target all game, which is worrying. Kenwyne was working as hard as ever but he was well-marshalled and didn’t have much of a squeak. Chops came on in the 70 th minute but also didn’t manage to create much at all while Prica had less than ten minutes near the end. By this time Defoe had scored the winner from the spot though I didn’t get a clear view of the penalty offence as the crossbar was impeding my view. We really need to start getting to the by-line more and slam in some crosses like we used to do not so long ago in the days of Johnston and Summerbee. I was out of the stadium like shit off a shovel and managed to catch the 17.14 home. As I entered the station I overheard a Pompey fan on his mobile saying, “They had nothing to offer. Just a bunch of shirt-pullers.” What about six weeks ago?

Well, that’s seven away games I’ve seen this season, all in the South East, and we’ve lost them all. Let’s hope my attendance further north at Derby next week will break my duck. On the whole other results were good for us today with our neighbours continuing their free-fall and three other fellow-strugglers losing but Wigan and Brum picked up points. Let’s hope Reading and Bolton also slip up tomorrow.

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