Anyway, on to the game. I think that has to be one of the weirdest 3-0 victories I have I ever witnessed, and whilst the Fratton Faithful walked away happy, I suspect there were many mixed feelings amongst the crowd, as for large parts of the game we were poor, especially in the first half. We seemed incapable of stringing two passes together, and finding the same member of your team with a blue shirt on seemed an impossible task. It was infuriating - schoolboy error stuff.
The one shining light on the evening for me was the return of Big Pat. He was fantastic last night. He looks leaner, fitter and sharper than I've seen him in months, and that has to be one of his, if not his best performance for us. He was also instrumental in our first goal which was a massive game changer. Up until Dunne scored his goal for us, and you wont see a better one at Fratton Park this season, we were 2nd best. It was an Agyemang lay off / assist that Dunne sprinted on to outside the box, burst through a couple of their defenders and then literally blasted it into the top of the net. After the tripe that we had witnessed for he previous 40 minutes, it was just what the team and fans needed.
You would have thought that would have changed everything, but we came back out in the second half looking second best again! The sending off of their No 28 for a second yellow, followed by our penalty a few minutes later did change things though. Both decisions looked correct to me (obviously
) and from then onwards we played some fantastic football. We could have won the game 4,5 or 6 nil. In fact, it should have been 4-0 anyway, as how they disallowed Storey's goal was beyond me. Need to see it on TV but looked a shocking decision from where we were all sat.Confidence is a huge thing in football, especially at this level, and the difference in our team once they realised they had the game won was immense. This was displayed by none more so than Jed Wallace who prior to his penalty was having an absolute shocker (even he admitted this on Twitter!). Fair dues to him, because he grabbed the ball when the penalty was given and coolly slotted home wrong footing the keeper. After that, he looked like a world beater!
Other performances of note last night were Jack Whatmough who had a very solid game, and James Dunne, who's wonder strike did set us on our winning way. I'd love to know what has happened to Danny Hollands, he is is not right at the moment. I'm not sure whether it is in his head or in his body!
I thought Awfs set the team up well last night. We seem to be far harder to beat with 3 at the back, but if I am going to be critical of Sir Andrew I personally would have made Dunne captain, not because his form has been far superior this season, but because Hollands is not a leader on the pitch, Dunne is, and was again last night.
Onwards and upwards. Wycombe will be tough opposition on Saturday, but if we play how we played for the last 20 minutes or so last night, we can beat anyone in this league. Also should have Atangana back which will be a huge boost IMHO.
