It seems hard to believe after the last few months that
tomorrow will see Pompey kick off the new season ahead with the visit of
neighbours AFC Bournemouth. Even the script writers of BBC One’s Eastenders and
ITV’s Coronation Street combined couldn’t have written the developments of what
had gone on to even get to this juncture so it will come as a relief to the
majority of fans that for 90 minutes tomorrow the events on the pitch will
outweigh the heavy shadow of anything still transpiring off the pitch. All
summer those ready to hammer the last nail in the coffin have waited patiently
for their chance to do so, but for one more month at least the gates of Fratton
Park will play host to League football. The names on the team sheet may not be
familiar to all but one thing will remain certain, whatever the result come
full time tomorrow the fans will have backed the team with passion and pride
and reminded the footballing world that no matter what has happened in matters
out of their hands, Pompey fans remain committed to the club and amongst the
best supporters in the land. I would of course be totally biased to suggest
that the fans are the very best English football. Let’s just say they do okay
despite the difficult circumstances the club has found itself in over the past
few seasons.
This time last year the Championship was already fully
underway and a squad devoid of any depth had begun under the stewardship of
Steve Cotterill for a second season on the trot; at least one thing had
remained consistent season to season, though his spell in charge was to only
last until mid October when he replaced Steve McLaren as the new manager of
Nottingham Forest. The season had opened with an away trip to Middlesbrough
where a last gasp injury time equaliser from Luke Varney rescued a point for
the south coast club having twice trailed in the game. David Norris was the
other scorer on the team sheet that day. The game was probably most noteworthy
for the five yellow cards collected on the day in what became a prolonged
period of ill-discipline as players struggled to conform to Cotterill’s
negative tactics. Just 90 minutes into the season and we’d received five yellow
cards; Tal Ben Haim, Halford, Hreidarrson, Ward and Mokeona all found their way
into the notebook of referee Graham Salisbury.
Next up and the first home game of the season and the derby
game against Brighton and Hove Albion in front of a somewhat disappointing gate
of 16,496 (considering the distance between the two sides on the South Coast)
saw Pompey go down to their first home defeat of the season 1-0 after a first
half injury time winner from Craig Mackail-Smith. Following on from the Boro
game the referee was in for a busy afternoon with another five players receiving
yellow cards; Tal Ben-Haim, Varney, Kitson, Hreidarrson and Lawrence making 10
bookings in just two games.
August 16th saw Pompey record their first win of
the campaign against the eventual Championship winners Reading in front of an
again disappointing crowd of just 13,438 as a rare Dave Kitson goal secured a
1-0 win. Mullins and Ward duly kept the referee busy as they made it 12
bookings in three games but Pompey had managed to secure four points from a
possible nine in their first three games of what was to promise to be another
long hard season.
Fast forward twelve months and very few faces remain within
the ranks of the Portsmouth squad. Remaining are the fresh faced youngsters of
Magri. Harris, Wallace and Webster who had been called into bolster the numbers
by Manager Michael Appleton towards the end of last season before relegation
ensued in the NPower League One. Tomorrow’s league opener will see the Pompey
faithful no doubt checking their programme’s on and off as the season begins
once more in earnest. So alongside the names of the youngsters add those of the
following who have all been signed on one month contracts the past two days;
Lee Williamson
Mikkel Andersen
Kieran Dijilali
Mustapha Dumbuya
Jon Harley
Brian Howard
Izale McLeod
Jack Compton
Luke Rodgers
Liam Walker
Simon Eastwood
Conor Clifford
Paul Conolly
Whatever the score line tomorrow afternoon this band of
youngsters and free transfers will carry no weight of expectation from the
fans, instead they will be cheered on like heroes with every kick of the ball
they make, every tackle attempted, every jump they make to go up for a header;
this is the Portsmouth’s supporters way and whoever pulls on the shirt for the
club this season you can be sure of one thing from the fans – the noise. We’ve
still got a club to support even if the contracts awarded have only been on a
one month basis. Tomorrow the Pompey Chimes will ring out across NPower League
One and there won’t be many sets of fans that come close to providing such an
atmosphere in this league. We may be skint but you cannot take away our voices.
Bring on the Cherries!
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