A Tale Of Two Cities w/c August 18th 2012

Portsmouth 1 AFC Bournemouth 1

Saturday August 18^th and Pompey kicked off their league campaign in earnest with eleven debutants at home to fellow neighbours and much fancied promotion candidates AFC Bournemouth in front of a strong crowd of 17,703. To place that attendance in perspective of their new league surroundings only Sheffield United’s home attendance of 18,286 in their 1-0 against Shrewsbury was higher and the next closest attendance was Preston North End's game against Colchester United which attracted an attendance of 10,034. The remaining ten fixtures on the opening calendar have attendances all well under the 10,000 mark.

Despite being forced to field eleven debutants and only four substitutes Michael Appleton’s Pompey side went in at half time with a 1-0 lead courtesy of a mishandled shot by Jalal in the AFC Bournemouth goal which allowed Izale McLeod’s speculative long range effort to find the back of the net. For all their efforts Pompey couldn’t hold on for the win and who else but the on loan Barnard signed just the previous day from Southampton popped up with the equaliser in the 78^th minute. Pompey could have made it all three points when substitute Ashley Harris struck the post having replaced Jack Compton. Given the tired legs on display towards the end of the full 90 minutes the first point on the board of the new season must go down as a good result under the circumstances.

Pompey: Andersen, Dumbuya, Long, Connolly, Harley, Dijali (Webster), Howard, Williamson (Clifford), Compton (Harris), Rodgers, McLeod. Subs Not Used: Eastwood

Manchester City 3 Southampton 2

If Pompey’s start against one of the favourites for promotion was hard then Nigel Adkins Premier League debut as a Manager saw him with a far sterner test of his management skills away to last season’s Champions Manchester City the following day at the Etihad Stadium. Talisman striker Ricky Lambert was a surprise omission from the starting line up as City contrived to miss a hatful of chances in both halves. Silva missed a penalty in the first half; Dzeko, Clichy, Nasri and Balotelli were all guilty of missing great chances in a game which ended much closer than the score would suggest. Somehow City went in at half time despite all their dominance with a slender 1-0 lead with a Tevez goal which was disputed by the away fans as being offside. City boss Mancini must have been left rueing the exit of Sergio Aguero early on having been stretchered off with suspected ligament damage.

Come the second half and Lambert made his Premier League debut for Southampton and proved that he looks capable of making the grade up to the top tier when he superbly drilled the ball past the diving England goal keeper Joe Hart who couldn’t stop the substitute from making the game 1-1. Suddenly it was Manchester City who were now on the back foot and when fellow substitute and new signing Steven Davis made the score 2-1 with another fine effort, Adkins must have been in dreamland at his clubs great second half comeback.

The ability of Champions to grind out results is what sets them apart though from other sides and it took just four minutes for City to find the equaliser through Dzeko and a poor defensive clearance from Fox fell to Nasri on the 80 minute mark. He made no mistake this time and stroked home the ball which saw City finish 3-2 winners as they began their defence of the league title with the three points in the bag. On another day more clinical finishing would have seen City have run away with the score line before the spirited Saints second half comeback.

So whilst the Saints fans may have been disappointed with the end result they will have taken enough encouragement from the game going into their next weekend’s game against Wigan Athletic who lost 2-0 to Chelsea the same afternoon. It would probably be unfair to suggest that maybe Adkins was saving the legs of the strike force of Lambert and Sharp for the following game but this is the Premier League and it’s not unknown for smaller teams to field slightly weakened teams against sides when their Manager’s don’t genuinely think they’ll come away with points on the board and the next opponents seem a surer place to get a result. I guess we shall see who Adkins starts with during  the next game and make any judgements from there.

Saints: K Davis, Clyne, Fonte, Hooiveld, Fix, Ward-Prowse (S Davis), Lallana, Schneirderlin, Puncheon (Sharp), Rodriguez (Lambet), Do Prado. Subs Not Used: Gazzaniga, Richardson, Shaw, Seaborne

Colchester United 2 Portsmouth 2

Tuesday August 21^st 2012 and Pompey travelled away to new surroundings in the form of the West Homes Community Stadium the new home of Colchester United. Pompey unveiled their new third away kit of orange and black in front of a travelling away support of over 1,100 fans. The one change from the opening game was Liam Walker coming in for Dijilali having received his international clearance in time. Appleton was also able to name a luxury six substitutes for the game including new signing Jordan Obita signed on loan from Reading.

Pompey looked like taking a 1-0 lead into half time after fine walk between Walker and Rodgers saw him calmly strike the ball past the diving Cousins. There was little Andersen could do if anything for the equaliser struck superbly by Rose to make the score line 1-1 at half time. It was a score line that flattered The U’s somewhat after the central pairing of Long and Connolly had marshalled the defence so well you’d have possibly been mistaken into thinking they’d played together for seasons not just the previous two games together.

The second half saw Dumbuya deployed as a right winger having started the game at right back to great success. With Jack Compton making the runs down the left Pompey looked a constant threat though McLeod wasted a disappointing opportunity having been played through with plenty of space ahead of the onrushing Cousins. His shot was easily saved and a guilt edged opportunity had gone begging. Into the last ten minutes of the game and with no move on the score line front Colchester took a surprising lead and a hardly deserved one through Okuonghae’s far post finish with just seven minutes left on the clock. However Pompey weren’t finished and the introduction of new signing Obita was to prove anything Adkins can do, Appleton can also do and the young left sided player stroked the ball into an empty net to win Pompey their second point in two games.

Whilst the 1,114 Pompey fans applauded everyone of their player’s off the pitch the Colchester fans deserted for the exits in droves in a scene I’ve never quite seen before in a football stadium and all three of their stands were totally clear before the majority of Pompey fans had even managed to get to the end of their rows let alone even down the steps towards the exits. The attendance of 4,335 showing a stark reminder in the gap between league attendances in this league and consider also that 1/4^th of that gate was made up of the travelling Pompey fans. The NPower League one will prove a culture shock for the club in more ways than one I’m sure this season. Michael Appleton’s side will have come away slightly aggrieved at not securing their first win of the season I’m sure. 

Pompey; Andersen, Dumbuya, Harley, Long, Connolly, Walker, Williamson (Webster), Howard, McLeod, Rodgers, Compton (Obita). Subs Not Used: Eastwood, Clifford, Djilali, Harris

Tales of the Two Cities - Off the Field

So that’s the football side out of the way. Off the field Southampton’s bid to make Bologna’s Gaston Ramirez their most expensive signing ever seems to have fallen through ahead of their weekend trip to Wigan Athletic.

Back down the M27 and surprise shown from many quarters from the Pompey faithful at the return of Balram Chanrai although I’m not entirely sure why they are so surprised given the football league had only let Pompey start the league campaign after the money was underwritten by Portpin. Chanrai released a statement via Sky Sports News in which was stated;

"Although Portpin positively viewed take-over interest by the Portsmouth Supporters Trust ("PST"), we understood from the Administrator that the terms offered by PST were problematic in two areas - the further reduction in football creditor debt to £2million and the uncertainty of the committed capital raised and held in escrow to both fund the take-over of the business and to provide guarantees for the next three years cash flow.

"We hope to finalise this transaction in the next two weeks.

"Portpin is taking this step to save the club and will look to continue to work with interested parties - including the Portsmouth Supporters Trust - to ensure that the club will have a sound business foundation to enable it to remain financially over the long term.

"We hope everybody including the huge fan base will support this saving process."

The original Portpin CVA was accepted by creditors back on June the 26^th and the PST were given a period of 28 days to be able to make a better bid to the creditors within that time frame which administrator Trevor Birch could have chosen irrespective of the creditors decision. It is believed that the £2 million offered in relation to the football creditor debt falls way, way short of the deals made by administrator Trevor Birch which saw all remaining first team professionals leave the club before the given deadline imposed of August 10^th to avoid liquidation.

The uncertainty of the committed capital raised and held in escrow to both fund the take-over of the business and to provide guarantees for the next three years cash flow surrounds the request to provide funds of £5 million in the escrow account as proof of being able to take the business forward in the hands of the Portsmouth Supports Trust. The PST are set to make a statement later on in the day but it is believed that they currently remain way short of the mark though rumours are circulating of possible further developments on that front.

In other news Stanmore-based businessman Laurence Bassini, who most recently found in football as the owner of Watford FC, is understood to have been in talks with Trevor Birch.

So that’s the tale of two Cities for another week. Pompey have managed to gain two points from their first two games and face the prospect of clocking the miles up as they travel away to Carlisle United this weekend hoping to pick up their first win of the season whilst Southampton face Wigan at home hoping to do the same.