Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
Need to be up in about 5 hours but a very quick snippet:
Seen us play far better this season, but we defended resolutely & we won again, that's 16 out of a possible 18 away points - incredible. Tom Naylor had his best game for us & was my MOTM, he even cleared the ball off the line in the dying seconds. Craig MacGillivray was as solid as ever & kept another clean sheet - he makes such a difference, and Nathan Thompson had another good game. Clarke and Whatmough look great together, and cleared up everything in front of goal. One minor misunderstanding in the first half,but Big Craig came to the rescue. Our GK has been a great signing by Kenny. All 3 points were won by touch of Ronan Curtis magic. The Pompey fans were pure class as always. So loud tonight. Starting to believe
Thanks SB, hope you manage to stay awake at work today!
During the 2002-03 season I remember having an natural confidence that even if we went behind in a game, we'd still come back and win. I'm beginning to get that same feeling again!
I thought we played well without playing well. In as much as we didn't create chance after chance and our game wasn't free flowing but what we did do was contain Coventry without putting ourselves under too much pressure.
A second goal would have meant game set and match and we threatened it more than them.
Our pressing was impressive last night and we forced Coventry into a lot of mistakes.
Pompey1985 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:19 am
I thought we played well without playing well.
That is actually a very good way of describing our performance! As you also say, a second goal for us would have killed the game stone dead.
The football on the pitch didn't have me worried we never looked like conceding. The lifetime of being a pompey fan had me worried we would conceed late on!
I may not contribute much to these discussions but I am so grateful to those who do. This is such a great forum. And any group that can discuss Brexit without resorting to abuse gets my vote.
Avatar: Harry 'Brusher' Mills (19 March 1840 – 1 July 1905) was a hermit, resident in the New Forest in Hampshire, England, who made his living as a snake-catcher. He became a local celebrity and an attraction for visitors to the New Forest.No relation as far as I know
Pompey1985 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:19 am
I thought we played well without playing well.
That is actually a very good way of describing our performance! As you also say, a second goal for us would have killed the game stone dead.
The football on the pitch didn't have me worried we never looked like conceding. The lifetime of being a pompey fan had me worried we would conceed late on!
This - Coventry were a bit powder-puff in front of goal but one lucky bounce could have made a major difference.
Coventry and Walsall are my local Pompey games (Shrewsbury and Burton are also nice little trips) and I don't get much opportunity to watch at Fratton these days so this was my first chance to see Pompey in the flesh this season rather than watching on iFollow.
It was my first visit to the Ricoh since watching an overweight David Nugent lead the line in 2010 for the league debut of Cotterball. Just relegated from the Premier League and still in administration, the club was on its descent. The game wasn't great, the atmosphere wasn't great, we lost 2-0 and apparently someone called Peter Gregory made his one league appearance as a substitute for John Utaka. Almost 19,000 people were in attendance that day as the Coventry fans battles with their own inept ownership had yet to start.
The stadium itself looks impressive at a distance especially driving along the A444 but the closer you get, the more disappointing it becomes. We parked up at a pub in a rundown part of the city, wandered through the Tesco out-of-town shopping development, under the railway line and came out on the South-East corner of the stadium. Having to collect tickets from their ticket office on the North-West corner meant we did virtually a full loop around the sterile exterior of the stadium. For what is essentially an out-of-town stadium, it seems to have been designed to ensure the minimum of time is spent outside by supporters.
Inside the stadium, there isn't a particularly large concourse to congregate and have a pint. This is because the stands at the Ricoh are steep which give excellent sight-views (if people are sitting) but the legroom is similar to that of Fratton's South Upper. The stadium gives an illusion of being larger than it is. They had however replaced the previous faded seats which is a small plus.
Whatever niggles I had about the stadium were put aside for a couple of hours of proper Pompey support. There's nothing better than an away game with a large Pompey following in full voice and optimism. We have almost put away the ner-ner-ner songs as well but there was one outing for the Torres song. Instead there were various songs with actual lyrics and only in the last few minutes was there any mention of the neighbours. When there were a couple of rockier moments, the Pompey faithful responded with more volume. Winning helps but this is a likeable team and it shows in the support it gets.
Craig MacGillivray - apart from that strange moment in the first half when Jack Whatmough mislay a pass and both he and Matt Clarke took a step forward and then hestitated, Gravy exuded confidence which helped the defence. Generally solid in catching and decision-making. There was one cross he failed to gather due to colliding with his own player in the second half but was bailed out by defenders around him. As for that first half mishap, he rescued the situation with a smart save after coming out to meet the sizeable Coventry centre-forward. Had it been a more confident finisher then Pompey would have been punished for that mistake.
Nathan Thompson - that trick he has of getting in front of the forward and then falling down was put to good use on more than a half-dozen occasions. He knows how to defend which is just as well as Coventry managed to get into one-on-one situations a few times during the game through clever passing. Pompey weren't great going forward last night and the link play between Jamal Lowe and Thompson wasn't that effective although he did provide the ball to Ben Close which should have been on target at least in the first five minutes. Didn't allow many crosses into the Pompey box and coped well with tricky opponents.
Lee Brown - I can see why Kenny Jackett prefers Brown to Brandon Haunstrup. Like Nathan Thompson, he knows how to defend. That's especially important given the raw talent of Ronan Curtis in front of him. Apart from a couple of occasions in the early parts of the game, he wasn't exposed by Coventry. Not spectacular, just solid.
Jack Whatmough - both he and Clarke were a little taken by surprise by the power of Clarke-Harris in the first few minutes but quickly adjusted. Not the best passing game I have seen Jack have but he and Clarke were dominant in the air. Did the defensive basics well enough.
Matt Clarke - very similar to Jack. Had a couple of runs into the Coventry half but they didn't amount to much. Decent without being outstanding.
Lee Naylor - Man of the Match for me. Watching on television doesn't convey the effect he has on the game. Naylor is vocal in his organisation, disciplined in his positioning and breaks play up well. Screened the back four effectively. His booking was deserved as he desperately tried to cover a potentially dangerous Coventry position. That was the only error I can recall.
Ben Close - not his best game and was out-performed by Coventry's Bayliss who will play at a higher level. Having seen the highlights, I can see that there was another Pompey player in his way for that early chance but he was a few yards closer than I thought he was looking from the far end. Didn't have enough influence in his passing but you could say that about the whole team. Worked hard for the cause.
Gareth Evans - again not his most effective performance but gave a lot of energy and commitment to the cause. Took a booking for the team with the most cynical trip of a breaking Coventry player which made me laugh hard. Rewarded for the moment with the song 'Gareth Evans is a Blue' by the Pompey faithful.
Ronan Curtis - was physically bullied by the Coventry right-back Willis in the first half. He didn't look quite right and lacked a bit of strength and acceleration so suspect that ankle is a bit of a problem. Did a bit better in the second half after Willis moved inside to partner ex-Pompey Davies. Was a lovely goal from the only bit of quality in the match. Being level with the corner flag, I could watch the ball bend from outside to inside the post. You wouldn't call his night effective overall but has this happy knack of making moments count.
Jamal Lowe - what really impressed me about Lowe last night was his influence in the last 15 minutes. He is very fit and provided a necessary out ball for the Pompey defence through his pace. Decision making and final ball wasn't the best but did work hard both going forward and back.
Brett Pitman - not a great night for Brett. His lay-off for Curtis to score was one of the few times he got the better of the Coventry centre-halves. He ran hard (if not fast) and gave his all for the team. Had one sniff of a chance in the second half but Willis just managed to get a touch to take the ball away from him otherwise he would have been celebrating.
Ben Thompson - came on for Close and gave some much needed energy to the team to help close the match out. One decent shot on target.
Oliver Hawkins - with Pitman tiring, having Hawkins come on in immediate beast-mode really helped the team. He flattened Willis twice in short time and proceeded to make life horrible for the Coventry back line. Both substitutes made the final moments more comfortable.
Referee - I have very few complaints about his performance. Was a little over-fussy re where Pompey restarted but he didn't blow up for the tiniest things which makes for a better game.
Coventry - I quite liked them as a team but they lacked decision making and quality in cross/pass in the final third. Some decent young players and should finish mid-table. Its just sad that their owners mean that thousands are staying away and the entire opposite end was closed with just a large flag of Jimmy Hill adorning it.
Conclusion - not a great game or performance but we did a job defensively and produced the one moment of quality in the match. I can't say the game flew by. However if you don't play that well despite looking reasonably comfortable and picking up three points on the road then it says that you got some quality in your side.
Edit: Should mention at the end of the game that when the Pompey players were celebrating with the fans, Michael Doyle behind them clapped the Pompey fans for a good 15 seconds. Quality.
Good reports all round. As LiT says, you don't get the full SP on iFollow so Naylor's contribution was apparently even more impressive than it appeared from laptop range.
I really hope we start to play in a way that backs up our clearly effective performances points-wise. It's disappointing that we seem unable to hold the ball and so many sides out-possess us.
But I'll take the points over an impressive possession stat.
Stop looking for solutions to symptoms and start identifying the disease.
