The Sunderland shirt’s on, the sarnies are made and I’m just about ready to head down to Waterloo to catch the train to Fratton. There’s no doubt that the F.A. Cup has lost something of its allure but maybe things will turn around again in a year or two as the League Cup has definitely revived in recent seasons. Anything that deflects from the Premier League and last week’s football lesson will soothe our collective pain. There’s a young Iraqi student in one of my classes and though his English isn’t too strong yet he knows everything there is to know about football. As soon as he saw me last Monday he said, “What happened Saturday? This wasn’t defeat. This was kill.” It looks like a few faces such as Turner and Richardson will return and anything that shores up our defence is most welcome. I don’t know anything about Kilgallon but I trust Bruce’s judgement and the fact that other Premier teams were keen on him backs this up. I like his name too. I suppose we’ll have to wait till the last few days of the window till the serious business starts. I’m unsure how Portsmouth will be looking at today’s game as probably they’ll want to concentrate on keeping up instead and they’re a bit short of dosh to pay for extra appearance money but I suspect they’ll want to win it as much as we do. Match prediction? 1-1.

I had time for a quick half in the buffet at Waterloo before catching the 12.00 train and I was in the Shepherd’s Crook near the ground just before 2 o’clock. As I’d passed the ground I could hear chanting and thought that some fans were very keen but then I could hear what they were saying i.e. “You’re not fit to run a club.” There were also a lot of A4 sized placards around with ‘FIT AND PROPER?’ on them. I was in the Gents when one of our fans engaged a Pompey fan in conversation about their current troubles and he replied, “It’s all these fackin’ Arabs” before following this up with a little chant of “B.N.P.! B.N.P.!” as he left. I watched the Preston v Chelsea match on the pub telly and Preston seemed to be dealing with them a lot better than we’d managed last week. As I entered the ground I had my customary chance encounter with London Branch’s own Ian Todd. As I took my seat it was decidedly cold on the arse.

Gordon was back in goal and got a very good reception as he took up his position while Cana had returned to midfield to allow Turner to slot into the back four where he was joined by the returning Richardson. This meant that Murphy was on the bench. An enthusiastic bunch of young lads by my side had put together a chant for Healy which included the decidedly weak line ‘The stars in the bright sky looked down where He-lay’ but I thought the stadium announcer had hit the mark more closely when he’d pronounced his name as “Helly.” He’d obviously seen him play recently. Kaboul was on for them and received a few boos when he was announced.

Portsmouth had the best of what attacking action there was in the opening ten minutes but then we suddenly came alive and after forcing a few corners and throw-ins we took the lead following a throw from the right which was knocked on for Bent to side-foot it home. There was silence for a second or two till our end realized it was a goal and then deep joy ensued. I rather like those funky drums and percussion that comes from the Portsmouth end, when we’re winning at any rate. On the half-hour Utaka for them and Richardson were both booked following some argy-bargy as we waited interminably for a Portsmouth throw to take place and two minutes later a couple of Pompey fans ran onto the pitch along the half-way line, no doubt as a pre-planned protest against the club owners. I was hoping that we could make it to the break without conceding when with a few minutes to go, a fairly innocuous diagonal ball reached our penalty area but somehow Bardsley failed to notice that Utaka was right behind him and next thing the ball had been headed into the corner of our net from a fairly acute angle with Gordon failing to intercept it. The Pompey fans finally came alive but there was much grumbling in our end.

There was some tasty music on the p.a. at the break including a version of Led Zep’s ‘Kashmir’ and some levity was added by the announcement that the Mags were losing to West Brom 2-0. The guy to my right failed to return for the second-half and maybe he had somehow seen into the future as for much of the half we played badly. In midfield and at the back we were allowing Portsmouth to advance without tackling while our overall passing and moving off the ball was poor. Jones was having a stinker and a young lad behind me spoke for many when he shouted, “Fuck off to Liverpool!” If they offered £12 million tonight, I’d bite their hand off. He had a few good touches but he just looks cumbersome a lot of the time and even when he won the ball in the air it usually didn’t find one of our players. As the hour-mark approached I must admit that my attention was drifting off a bit and when I focused back on the pitch, Utaka was storming towards our penalty area before slotting in his second of the game. A few more Pompey fans got onto the pitch, though for different reasons this time, and were promptly dragged away. I was hoping we’d get Reid and Campbell on and my thoughts were being echoed by many around me. They finally appeared, Reid replacing Meyler with twenty minutes left and Campbell came on for Jones ten minutes later. At least we picked up a bit after Reid came on and there was definitely more fight in our play. Healy replaced Bardsley and at least he actually touched the ball a few times. Campbell was fouled right on the edge of the box and the resultant free-kick was tipped over by Begovic. From the corner I thought we’d equalized but it was cleared off the line, though many thought that it had actually gone over the line. There were four minutes of stoppage-time and we did battle but it all came to nothing and there were loud and angry cries from our end while those awful Pompey Chimes boomed around us. As we shuffled towards the exit a guy next to me was saying that we’re going down. Maybe he was just trying the mood on for size but I think he could be right as we’ve really lost what we had when we beat Arsenal what seems a very long time ago and I can’t see where the next win is going to come from. As for our next match against Everton, I can see us getting hammered again. It’s all feeling horribly familiar.

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