Walsall (H) September 15th 2012

When I checked my Sky Sports App last week to see who was next up for Pompey I got a tad excited when I read we were playing Millwall at home. On checking for a second time when I was more awake I realised that last season’s relegation hadn’t been part of my imagination and that we are actually playing Walsall at home which wasn’t so exciting a prospect after all but is obviously part and parcel of the new furniture that surrounds us in the NPower League One. I met a Walsall fan once and have never met any others so I’m presuming there’s more than just him in existence but we’ll see how many travel down for the game tomorrow.

Walsall managed by Dean Smith and nicknamed ‘The Saddlers’ visit Fratton Park sat in 8^th position currently. They opened this season’s campaign with a 1-0 win at home to Brentford in the League Cup before crashing out 3-0 in the second round to Premiership opposition in the form of Mark Hughes’ QPR away at Loftus Road. Their opening league game saw a comprehensive 3-0 loss to Doncaster Rovers who were relegated alongside Pompey from The Championship at the tail end of last season. Since their opening day defeat The Saddlers are unbeaten in four having secured wins against Notts County (1-0) and MK Dons (1-0) and drawn with Oldham Athletic (1-1) and Brentford (2-2).  Twenty year old forward George Bowerman who has come through the academy ranks at Walsall is their top goal scorer in all competitions with 2 goals in a season that has seen them score just 6 goals in 7 games. Walsall will aim to field the 19 year old Belgian midfielder Florent Cuvelier who is currently on loan from Stoke City. Cuvelier was part of the Portsmouth youth set up before joining the Premiership side in 2010.

Pompey and Walsall have played in a total of 23 competitive matches together in which Pompey have won 10, lost 5 and drawn 8 scoring a total of 37 times and conceding 25. The last season the two clubs were together was in 2002/03 and Pompey won 2-1 away and 3-2 at home. The wins extended their unbeaten run against The Saddlers to four games. Their last loss came back in April 2000 when Walsall won 1-0 at The Bescot Stadium.

I know in life they say you should never judge a book by its cover but The Saddlers Player of the Season for the past two years has been central defender Andy Butler and Michael Appleton’s men will be hopeful of recording their third successive win in all competitions following the home win in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against AFC Bournemouth on penalties and last Sunday’s 3-0 away win to high flying Crawley Town which was their first league win of the campaign. Goals from Harris and McLeod sandwiched a superbly struck free kick from Luke Rodgers to secure the win after Crawley had been reduced to nine men and had their manager sent to the stands. Pompey welcome back Mustapha Dumbuya from international duty but remain without the suspended Jordan Obita who serves the last of a three match ban following his dismissal at home to Oldham Athletic. New signing Gabor Gyepes looks set to miss out following his injury sustained in the first half at Crawley Town. With the off the field uncertainty continuing manager Michael Appleton is weighing up the options of releasing either central defender Kevin Long or Conor Clifford when their loan deals run out in order to bring another forward into the club as cover for McLeod and Rodgers. Defender Paul Connolly has returned to parent club Leeds United following his injury.

A Tale of Two Cities (19^th August to September 3^rd 2012)

To trot out the old cliché – A week in football is a long time. Never has there been a truer statement when it comes to the trials and tribulations of the remains of Portsmouth FC on and off the field. I’ve been somewhat pre-occupied with other projects of late since the last Tale of Two Cities blog published on August 18^th 2012 so I will try recapping all the latest going’s on both here and down the M27 as neighbours Southampton continue their season in the upper echelons of the English footballing world.

The opening two games of the NPower League One Season had seen Pompey record two straight draws at home to AFC Bournemouth and away to Colchester United whilst Southampton had seen a 2-1 lead slip away at the home of current Premier League Champions Manchester City to eventually lose the game 3-2. We pick up the tale as Pompey travelled away to Brunton Park to take on Carlisle United and Southampton hosted Wigan Athletic in their first home game of the season.

Carlisle United 4 Portsmouth 2

Pompey’s unbeaten start to the season came apart in spectacular fashion thanks in part to some kamikaze defending which saw them leave empty handed from Brunton Park on the wrong side of a 4-2 score line. Trailing 2-0 going into the 90^th minute with only ten men following the second half dismissal of Kevin Long, substitute Ashley Harris scored his first league goal for Pompey with a short range header before Michael Appleton saw his side concede for a third time in the game. Fellow substitute Conor Clifford (on loan from Chelsea) calmly slotted the ball home to make it 3-2 before Pompey again came unstuck at the back and the fourth injury time goal was registered.

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

Southampton 0 Wigan Athletic 2

The game saw manager Nigel Adkins restore Rickie Lambert to the starting line up as Southampton looked to secure their first home win in the Premier League for seven seasons as they took on a Roberto Martinez side who had lost their opening game of the season to Chelsea and were without the influential Victor Moses who had been sold to Roberto Di Matteo’s men. Saints fans were surely expecting their side to begin their home campaign with all three points following their performance the week before which had stunned the Etihad faithful into silence having come from 1-0 down to take the lead.

A somewhat lifeless first half saw the sides go in at half time 0-0. The best chance fell to Lallana whose 25 yard drive was tipped onto the bar by Ali Al Habsi. Southampton started the brighter in the second half and Lambert went close with a header before Wigan opened the scoring a minute later through a Di Santo shot which beat Kelvin Davis from a tight angle. Chasing the game in the final minutes Southampton came undone when Fonte hesitated just in front of the half way line and was disposed by Kone who ran on with the ball and slotted past keeper Davis to make the final score 2-0.

Saints: K Davis, Clyne, Hooiveld, Fonte, Fox, Schneiderlin, S Davis (Ward-Prowse), Rodriguez (Sharp), Lallana, Guly, Lambert. Subs Not Used: Gazzaniga, Richardson, Shaw, Seaborne, Puncheon

Stevenage Borough 1 Southampton 4

The first ever meeting between the two sides took place in the Carling Cup second round as Adkin’s men finished comfortable victors in a 4-1 win which saw him change his complete starting line up from the side that lost 2-0 to Wigan at the weekend. Despite holding their Premiership visitors 0-0 at half time the League One outfit went 3-0 down to goals from Lee, Sharpe and Puncheon before substitute Thalassitis's 20-yard effort pulled one back for the home side. Reeve completed the scoring for the visitors to earn his side a place in Round Three against Dave Jones’ Sheffield Wednesday at home.

Saints: Gazzaniga, Richardson, Shaw, Seaborne, Butterfield, Hammond (Chambers), Ward-Prowse, Chaplow (Reeves), Puncheon, Sharp (Moore), Lee. Subs Not used: K Davis, Stephens, Hoskins, Sinclair.

Portsmouth 0 Oldham Athletic 1

A crowd of 12,635 saw Michael Appleton’s Pompey side slip to their second successive defeat in the space of a week and finish the game with ten men again as the young Reading loanee Jonathan Obita saw red in the second half along with Oldham’s Cliff Bryne for violent conduct. Pompey had started the game without the suspended Kevin Long who was serving a one match ban following his dismissal away to Carlisle United the previous weekend. A Jonathan Grounds shot was deflected past Andersen in the Pompey goal by debutant Ertl just before the hour mark for the only goal of the game. The result see’s Pompey drop into the relegation places for the first time this season laying fourth bottom in the league.

Pompey: Andersen, Harley, Connolly, Obita, Russell, Dumbuya, Walker (Harris), Howard, McLeod, Compton, Ertl (Rodgers). Subs Not Used: Eastwood, Webster, Clifford

Southampton 2 Manchester United 3

Nigel Adkins men found that there is no room for rest bite in the Premier League following their 4-1 mid week cup victory away to Stevenage Borough as they took on last season’s Premier League Runners Up Manchester United in Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1,000^th game in charge of the Red Devils. The Saints opened the scoring from who else but Rickie Lambert when he headed in from close range in the 16^th minute. United levelled the scoring through £24 million signing Robin Van Persie who scored his second goal in two games with a sublime volley which Davis could do little about from the left edge of the penalty area. Davis however would get the better of RVP as he turned the Dutchman’s spot kick around the post to keep the score at 1-1 before the Saints regained the lead through a Morgan Schneiderlin header.

Looking to protect his side’s lead in the closing third of the game Adkin’s took off Lallana and Lambert whilst Fergie brought on Scholes, Nani and Hernandez as his side pressed on looking for a share of the points. Van Persie made amends for his earlier penalty miss as he levelled the scores in the 87^th minute before claiming his 100^th Premier League goal and the match ball with his hat trick in injury time to condemn Nigel Adkin’s side to their third straight Premier League defeat leaving them bottom of the league with 0 points.

Saints: K Davis, Clyne, Hooiveld, Fonte, Fox, Schneiderlin, S Davis, Ward-Prowse, Lallana (Rodriguez), Puncheon (Mayuka), Lambert (Guly). Subs Not Used: Gazzaniga, Richardson, Seaborne, Lee.

Michael Appleton’s men face AFC Bournemouth at home in the First Round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tonight before travelling away to Crawley Town in their next league fixture. Nigel Adkins men face another big test when they take on Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side away at the Emirates who’ve so far haven’t conceded a league goal in their opening three games of the season and beat Brendan Rodger’s Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield in their last game.

Tales of the Two Cities – Off The Field

Pompey’s squad saw two new faces as Ex-Sheffield United midfielder Johnny Ertl and the ex-Norwich City player Darel Russell joined Appleton’s squad on one month deals alongside Josh Thompson who also signs having appeared for the club in pre-season. Kieran Djilali was let go by mutual consent and youngster Sam Magri signed for Premier League Queen’s Park Rangers having been told he wasn’t part of the club’s long term plans.

Mustapha Dumbuya has been named in the Sierra Leone squad for their Africa Cup of Nations game with Tunisia on Saturday September 8^th which means he will miss the away game with Crawley Town the following day.

Pompey administrator Trevor Birch has given both the Portsmouth Supporter’s Trust and Balram Chanrai’s Portpin a fortnight to finalise their bids for the club.

Southampton have brought in Zambia forward Emmanuel Mayua from Young Boys Berne on a five year deal; Japanese defender Maya Yoshida from Dutch side VVV-Venlo for a fee reportedly worth £2 million; American goal keeper Cody Cropper who had been training with the club having been released by Ipswich Town and the club record signing of Uruguayan international midfielder Gaston Ramirez from Bologna in a deal set to be worth in the region of £12 million. Dean Hammond has rejoined former club Brighton and Hove Albion and Billy Sharp has signed for Nottingham Forest both on season long loans.

AFC Bournemouth (H) 4th September 2012 JPT 1st Round

Hands up all those Pompey fans that can remember the Zenith Data Systems Cup and be honest (*Slowly raises own hand to the air). Hands up all those who can remember the equally ill fated Anglo Italian Cup – Well I remembered the ZDS Cup so I’m going to have to cop this one as well obviously. Finally who remembers playing in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy? Well if you did put your hand up then you’re obviously not a Pompey fan because tonight see’s our debut in the competition that fans have dubbed the Tin Pot Trophy ever since our neighbours won it in the 2009 – 2010 season. I’d like to be able to tell you that I have the foggiest about how the competition actually works but I would be quite frankly lying through my teeth and in all honesty if we don’t beat AFC Bournemouth tonight I’m sure I won’t be the only fan who isn’t crying into his pillow come the end of the day having been knocked out.

So with the aid of modern technology this is how the Cup works; 48 teams enter from Leagues One and Two and are assigned into one of four areas: Northern Section – East and West and similarly the same in the Southern Section. In Round One there are 16 games played in total between 32 teams with the remaining 16 receiving a bye to Round Two - and at this juncture if we make it past round two which I very much doubt, I will endeavour to discuss how the remainder of the competition works if and only if it’s very necessary to do so.

So tonight live on Sky Sports we take on AFC Bournemouth at home for the second time in under a month as Michael Appleton’s side search for their first victory in all competitions having been knocked out in the first round of the Carling Cup away to Plymouth Argyle and failing to collect a single league win from their opening four league games. Despite Bournemouth’s pre-billing as one of the fancied sides for promotion from League One this season they haven’t fared much better since the opening game of the season at Fratton Park and find themselves only two places and one point better off. Paul Grove’s men travel back down the south coast after a 5-3 loss to Sheffield United at the weekend following on from three successive 1-1 draws against ourselves, Preston North End and MK Dons.

Despite the close proximity between the two clubs they have only ever played each other 17 times in all competitions and at Fratton Park Pompey have the clear advantage historically – Of the 9 games played at home Pompey have a 55.56% win rate and Bournemouth have only ever won once. In those games Pompey have scored 19 times to Bournemouth’s 8 with Pompey’s biggest win coming in a 5-1 win in the FA Cup back in January 1991. Whilst the win count falls into Pompey’s favour just how seriously the two respective managers take the competition will be seen when Michael Appleton and Paul Groves announce their starting line ups later on today.

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.