26/12/2010 Portsmouth 1-1 Millwall: Lions roar and Pompey draw

@PompeyChicken provides another match report ‘mash-up’ including tweets from (mainly) Pompey fans and Official Portsmouth FC on Twitter.

A reasonable sized Boxing Day crowd of 17,521 saw Portsmouth draw 1-1 against Millwall. It could have been larger perhaps but for a number of factors including a 1PM kick-off and Millwall not selling their complete allocation, the London club had been given the whole of the Milton End with two large sections of seats unavailable due to segregation. Memories of trouble in the 1970s and 1980s sadly linger long in the memory and no chances were taken by Hampshire Constabulary. A police chopper buzzed overhead before and after the game.

@djcopio Off to #Pompey Millwall today, hoping no idiots spoil it. First game in years, looking forward to it!

@sianifer Taking my nan to see #pompey v Millwall! Woo

@fatheed Wanted to buy tickets to #Pompey #Millwall at Fratton Park but they're not being sold at the ground :(

@nayla123jervis Can't believe my husband can't get x1 ticket for the Pompey v Milwall game today bless him #pompey #sports #shepherdscrook

@wordsfailme no tickets, no public transport, no #pompey game for me today – boooooooooooooooooo

@andyradiobloke Love being at boxing day footy. Was even free mince pies on the pub before the match #pompey

It was the first game at Fratton Park for six weeks following the recent bad weather conditions. The last match was the 2-3 defeat to Doncaster Rovers.

@tomc_1984 Can any1 post directions from Copnor 2 Fratton Park as I've forgotten how 2 get there it's been so long #pompey

@PompeyDog A home game that's actually on! C'mon #Pompey - tame the Lions! PUP

Although it was very cold on the South Coast the pitch at Fratton Park was in good condition, no danger of a postponement for this fixture, the fate that fell many Festive games.

@SolentSport #pompey match v Millwall on Boxing Day set to go ahead. Pitch at Fratton Park understood to be fine.

@mikeypfc #pompey - better win today it is far too cold to sit and watch a defeat!

@BileysMullet Taps at fratton park normally run water like volcanic lava, typically today when want to warm hands is bleeding freezing #pompey

@PompeyChicken Flags on North Stand at Fratton Park perfectly still. #Pompey

With Greg Halford suspended Steve Cotterill introduced Hermann Hreidarsson to the starting line-up in defence his first for nine months since the injury he sustained at White Hart Lane. Prior to this match he had only made a few cameo appearances up front making a nuisance of himself. Carl Dickinson was on the bench following his return from suspension.

Pompey 'glove watch' identified only John Utaka, the team was snoodless although there were a few players wearing long sleeve undershirts beneath their short sleeved tops. Only Michael Brown, Hayden Mullins and Aaron Mokoena went for the hard-man, summer look.

During the first half Pompey looked a bit 'ring-rusty' despite two magnificent away wins against Swansea and Norwich City in their last two matches.

Skipper Aaron Mokoena was booked very early on for a crunching tackle from behind on a Millwall player that led to a small melee amongst the players surrounding the referee Mr Phillips. He produced a yellow card after shooing players away in dramatic style more appropriate for a pantomime. Mokoena was on edge for the rest of the game.

@officialpompey Mokoena booked for a foul but the free-kick comes to nothing (3 mins) #pompey

Pompey had a number of half-chances in the first period and occasionally looked the better team, especially from set pieces, but without posing Millwall too many problems. The best opportunity to score fell to John Utaka who found himself through on goal and one-on-one with Millwall keeper David Forde, who blocked the shot well with his legs after reacting quickly to the danger. The Nigerian should have done better but this effort summed up his afternoon: lots of expectation but no end delivery. One chap behind me declared that he knew what was wrong with Utaka, “He's too fat!”, he announced to his mate. Pot and kettle sprang to mind.

@officialpompey Forde comes tearing off his line to save at the feet of Utaka (15 mins) #pompey

As the game settled down Millwall grew in confidence and started to look the better team. Trotter and Puncheon in particular were causing Pompey problems. Jamie Ashdown was being kept busy due to some off-colour defending by Pompey being called into action a number of times.

@officialpompey Ashdown makes a fine double save to deny Henry and Puncheon (6 mins) #pompey

@officialpompey Trotter fires against the post from point-blank range before Henry scuffs the loose ball wide (20 mins) #pompey

@onejimproudfoot Trotter unlucky to hit post and Henry misses shocker on rebound. Lions coming into it #Pompey #millwall

It was no surprise when Millwall took the lead through a Trotter header after Ashdown had made an initial save from a shot by Dunne. As the cliché goes 'it had been coming for a while'.

@onejimproudfoot Millwall lead: Trotter header after Dunne effort parried. Deserved after impressive 10 min spell #Pompey #millwall

@officialpompey Goal: #Pompey 0 Millwall 1 (Trotter 26)

@officialpompey Trotter did well to guide his header past Ashdown and into the net after the #Pompey keeper had kept out Dunne's initial effort

Almost immediately Pompey had a great opportunity to equalise but Aaron Mokoena's unmarked header went wide after Liam Lawrence had whipped in another excellent corner. He should have at least hit the target.

Set pieces looked the most likely avenue for Pompey to score from in the first half. Pompey's only other half-decent chance fell to Michael Brown but the midfielder fired his effort well wide of the goal and into the Millwall fans gathered in the Milton End.

Millwall maintained their lead and could have scored again but spurned a number of very good chances. Excellent work from Ashdown and some timely interventions from the linesman helped to keep the scoreline to 1-0 at the half-time break.

@Jlsouthwarknews #Millwall could've easily had a couple more here. Well on top and #Pompey not offering much by way of a response.

@officialpompey Trotter somehow fails to put the ball in the net from two yards out but his blushes are spared by the linesman's flag (37 mins) #pompey

@onejimproudfoot Lions ripping Hreidarsson to bits: Pompey best chances coming from high balls inside Millwall box, but all from set pieces #Pompey #millwall

@officialpompey Morison races clear but Ashdown stands his ground and makes a good block (42 mins) #pompey

@officialpompey Ashdown makes a superb save from point-blank range to deny Morison. The Millwall player was offside but it was still a super stop #pompey

HT Portsmouth 0-1 Millwall

As has happened on more than one occasion this season Pompey came out for the second half, attacking the Fratton End, firing on all cylinders. I have a sense of deja-vu whilst writing this sentence!

Michael Brown had two good shots on goal from the edge of the area but couldn't get past a stubborn Millwall defence.

@officialpompey Brown shot cleared off the line (46 mins) #pompey

Pompey continued to pile pressure on the Millwall goal and thought they had equalised a few minutes later, David Nugent drilling the ball home from the left. But the fans' joy soon turned to despair when the 'goal' was disallowed, the linesman flagging for offside although it was difficult to see who the offender was.

@officialpompey Nugent nets from a tight angle but it's ruled out for offside (48 mins) #pompey

@onejimproudfoot Pompey impressive start to 2nd half. Excellent Nugent had goal disallowed for offside #Pompey #millwall

Pompey continued to generate chances and Dave Kitson did everything but score after an excellent turn on the edge of the box to get free from his marker only to fire wide of the left hand upright.

@officialpompey Great chance for Kitson - but he pokes wide of the post (57 mins) #pompey

Hayden Mullins fired a shot from just outside of the penalty area that just clipped the top of the cross bar. Pompey were in the ascendency and having a much better second half.

@officialpompey Mullins shot from the edge of the box clips the top of the crossbar (67 mins) #pompey

Pompey's pressure finally paid off in the 73rd minute when David Nugent scored his seventh goal of the season. A mis-hit cross from Lawrence from the left side of the area was headed back towards goal by Kitson and Nugent was the first to react with a close range header past Forde. A well deserved goal.

@stuart_matthews Hooray - now for the winner ! #pompey

@PompeyGoat Nugent!!! Get in there you little beauty... #Pompey

@paulpfcgarner Get in there nuge, 1all come on #pompey the come back is on!!!

In the second half Millwall's best efforts came from long range and on the break, both the impressive Puncheon and Morrison with chances.

The main threat to Pompey in the second half was their own defensive frailty and on one occasion Joel Ward, who got stronger as the game went on, did well to clear the ball off the line and away from danger after Brown had misdirected a cross from a Millwall player.

Steve Cotterill recognised this frailty when he withdrew Rocha and Hreidarsson and replaced them in a double substitution, Sonko and Dickinson coming on.

Rocha had not had one of his better games, occasionally getting side-tracked into verbal battles with the Millwall players, and eventually seeing yellow for a deliberate handball just before his departure.

Hreidarsson had given his all but not unexpectedly lacked match-fitness. One trade-mark 'sprint', arms and legs pumping away in an exaggerated fashion brought a smile to the face.

Both players will have a big part to play in the second half of Pompey's season when defensive experience and nous will be needed to balance attacking flair (of which the team has plenty).

Ashdown had to remain alert until the end, making one more good block from Morrison to keep the scores level.

@officialpompey Ashdown makes another fine save to deny Morison (85 mins) #pompey

With five minutes of added time Cotterill threw on Kanu in place of Kitson but the Nigerian was unable to exert any influence in such a short space of time before the referee blew the final whistle.

FT Portsmouth 1-1 Millwall

On reflection a draw was a fair result in this match. Millwall were the better team in the first half and Pompey the better in the second. However, if Pompey are to push on in this league and secure a play-off place, it's games like this that Pompey need to pick up three points.

Good recent form plus a win earlier in the season at The New Den raised expectations that Pompey would pick up a double. Four points out of a possible six against a workmanlike but unspectacular Millwall team looks good on paper but it could have been six out of six.

Liam Lawrence was named the official sponsor's MOTM but I would have given it to David Nugent whose tireless running, closing defenders and keeper down was a constant thorn in Millwall's side.

Next up Leeds United (away) on Bank Holiday Tuesday 28th December at 3PM.

Portsmouth team vs Millwall
@officialpompey #Pompey team: Ashdown; Ward, Mokoena (c), Rocha, Hreidarsson; Lawrence, Brown, Mullins, Utaka; Kitson, Nugent
@officialpompey #Pompey subs: Flahavan, Sonko, Dickinson, Ciftci, Kanu

@PompeyChicken at twitter.com

A shorter version of this report can be found at http://pompeypages.com/2010/12/26/pompey-1-millwall-1-a-view-from-the-stands/

POMPEY CALENDAR 2011

OK, bets on how many of these 12 players will still be at Pompey by the time their picture comes around - God I'm such a cynic! I'm also a fan who has bought a calendar most years and knows the score!

January - Jamie Ashdown
February - Joel Ward
March - Ibrahimo Sonko
April - Hayden Mullins
May - Aaron Mokoena
June - Nadir Ciftci
July - Michael Brown
August - Kanu
September - Liam Lawrence
October - Richard Hughes
November - David Nugent
December - Dave Kitson

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HATVENT CALENDAR 24/12/2010

Phew! Finally made it to Christmas Eve! The final day of the PompeyChicken Hatvent Calendar.

Despite an enforced intermission I've still managed to squeeze in 24 hats and write some football related gibberish along the way, trying my best to make as many Pompey connections as I could. And yes I know some of them were loose connections!

If you've been following along since December 1st, thank-you for indulging me. If you're just catching up, welcome: you've got some reading to do, should you wish!

Don't forget this has all been a bit of fun and has come about because of The Big Knit - making winter warmer for older people.

Innocent has been donating 25 pence from every sale of one of its Smoothies to AgeUK a worthy cause this time of year, especially as the weather has already turned wintery. Brrrrr!

To find out more about The Big Knit go to this link:

http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/bigknit/

All of today's hats are blue(ish) and represent Pompey - enjoy and have a Pompeytastic Christmas and a Cotterillistic New Year:





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HATVENT CALENDAR 23/12/2010

This hat is red(ish) and black stripes - oh, yes it is! - and represents AC Milan.

I don't think any Pompey fan would ever have imagined playing AC Milan in a competitive game at Fratton Park but on 27th November 2008 that's exactly what happened. A combination of Pompey winning the FA Cup the previous May and AC Milan failing to make it in to the Champions League plus a bit of luck with the draw of the group stage saw the two teams drawn against each other in the Uefa Cup. Fantastic!

The game ended in a 2-2 draw, Pompey having been ahead 2-0 with less than ten minutes to go. Second half goals from Kaboul and Kanu in front of the Fratton End had given Pompey the lead.

Unfortunately, a dubious looking free-kick was given away outside the box by Richard Hughes, which is ironic as he has links with AC Milan, and up stepped Ronaldinho to score a fantastic free-kick past a scrambling David James in to the top corner. As soon as the referee blew his whistle he stepped up and took it, no delay, it gave him the added moment of surprise, a split-second, enough to make a difference. It was a great free-kick, the fans around me didn't know whether to curse or applaud in admiration. They probably did a bit of both.

Then with time running out and a famous Pompey victory in sight Inzaghi toe poked a late equaliser in front of the travelling fans in the corner of the Milton End following a hopeful ball forward from the Milan midfield that was poorly dealt with: 2-2. Dang - if only...

That goal knocked the stuffing out of Pompey's Uefa Cup campaign and despite remaining unbeaten at home during their brief participation in the competition, in hindsight this was probably the point when Pompey's expensively assembled stack of cards started to topple.

The game will go down in the annals of Pompey history as one of the great Fratton Park nights. The Pompey fans that evening were unbelievable, I've never heard the same level of noise that was generated that night, not even in Pompey-Saints games. It's become a bit of a cliche but that night the old lady really did rock. It was spine-tingling and still has that effect on me today when I watch highlights.

Here are some pictures of the matchday programme for that game:


And here's some of the pictures and a report from the programme for the Newcastle game on the 14th December:



And here's an extract from Chris Kamara's article in the Heerenveen programme on the 17th December:

And here are some clips on YouTube from the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC3p8viM8_Q for Pompey fans on form as usual!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFg2Yjd4EmA for Pompey fans vs AC Milan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pic6ZmjjIqw for Fratton Park Atmosphere against AC Milan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKGCkC97n4g for highlights
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HATVENT CALENDAR 22/12/2010

This is a strawberry hat. It reminded me of a baseball player called Daryll Strawberry and you can find out more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darryl_Strawberry

Ummm...looking for a Pompey link here I did wonder if there were any Pompey players who had names of fruits...but that search was fruitless...

So I moved from 'strawberry' to 'baseball' to...the Baseball Ground and Derby County to find the link I was looking for! Yes, I know it's tenuous and Derby don't play in red, but what the heck! Needs must!

I went to Pride Park a couple of seasons ago on the opening day of the Premier League season to see Derby and Pompey draw 2-2, one of very few points Derby accumulated that season.

Pride Park is an impressive modern ground and the Derby fans turn up in numbers to every home game to support their team - crowds of over 30,000 are commonplace even in The Championship.

But I have fonder memories of The Baseball Ground. Not for footballing reasons per se but because of the atmosphere the crowd generated on the night I visited it to see Pompey play.

I travelled up to Derby with a friend from college in his old pale blue VW Beatle for an evening fixture back in 1987 (the 4th March of be exact). It was a long old trip. We parked on some waste ground somewhere near the ground, along with many of the travelling fans.

Pompey were top of the Second Division and Derby County were in second place. The game, played in front of 21,085 fans Derby's biggest of the season to that point, ended 0-0 but it was that atmosphere that's stuck with me to this day.

I'm not sure why to be honest but for me it ranks right up there with some of those 'special moments' you never forget as a Pompey fan e.g. AC Milan in the Uefa Cup (a 2-2 draw), the three epic games against Spurs in the League Cup (0-0, 0-0 and 1-0 - Noel Blake! Get in there!) and Stockport County (1-0) in front of a small but very loud Fratton crowd constantly chanting throughout the game.

Maybe it was the Baseball Ground's construction and shape, it was quite 'box like' I seem to recall so it held in the crowd's sound really well, there was little 'leakage'.

Maybe it was because it was an evening game under the floodlights, always special.

Maybe it was just being at an away game with a large Pompey following.

Who knows. The key thing is that the Baseball Ground remains one of my favourite away grounds to this day.

Sadly of course it's no more, closing in 2003. You can find out more about the ground from these two links:
http://www.derbyphotos.co.uk/special/the_bbg.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Ground

Here are some pictures from the matchday programme for that game:




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HATVENT CALENDAR 19/12/2010 TO 21/12/2010

Sometimes things just come at you unexpectedly from out of left field and knock you sideways, do you know what I mean?

The death of a very close member of your family is one of things.

There's a time and a place for everything and it's been inappropriate to post silly pictures during the last few days. In some people's eyes it may still be.

But in the interest of 'moving on' I'm going to try and finish this ridiculously trivial 'project' if only to try and get back to some form of normality, whatever that is...

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM POMPEY VS. SUNDERLAND FRIENDLY

Pictures from today's hastily arranged friendly between Pompey and Sunderland at Havant.

Stuart Attwell was the referee no need for goal posts, the pitch was perfectly playable, and the blue lines are clearly visible as you can see.

PompeyChicken took his boots along and got a game.




To see some more on Stuart Attwell see this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/gallery/2010/oct/05/stuart-attwell#/?picture=367244259&index=1

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HATVENT CALENDAR 18/12/2010

This hat represents snow which has put paid to much of the UK's football programme today including Pompey's game at Fratton Park against Scunthorpe United.

Quite a few games did go ahead in The Championship today, including Ipswich Town 3-0 Leicester City at Portman Road. The lines were painted blue, the yellow ball wasn't bright enough and had to be replaced with an orange one and the groundstaff had to clear snow at half-time and during a break in the second half. Amazing.

Brought back memories of Pompey's farcical game in the 2002-03 season against Leicester City at Fratton Park when there was enough water on the pitch to launch a battleship in to.

Interestingly both games were being played live in front of the Sky TV cameras...ummm, surelay Sky didn't influence the decision to play today did they?

To 'celebrate' the hardy nature of British football fans here is a picture from the 1969-70 Topical Times Football Book showing fans in the snow at Hillsborough:

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A FEW OF THE LADS OUT SLEDGING

HATVENT CALENDAR 17/12/2010

Today's hat is blue and yellow and represents Everton away in the 1970s...and Ipswich Town away...and WBA away...and Chelsea away...and Derby County away...

Here's Alan Ball in action against Bobby Moore from the front cover of the 1972 Shoot! Annual wearing the Everton away strip of yellow shirt, blue shorts and yellow socks - notice the white boots!

And here's Bob Latchford on the front cover of the 1976 Shoot! Annual in action against Ipswich Town (Beattie and Talbot I do believe) in another version:

See here for more on Bob Latchford: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Latchford

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HATVENT CALENDAR 16/12/2010

This hat represents the original Portsmouth FC colours.

Last season, as the Club went through some very difficult times with multiple owners, administration, a points deduction and eventually relegation, some fans donned scarves in these colours as a form of protest against the custodians of their club who were not 'fit and proper'.

See the following link for a visual list of Pompey's kits down the years. Note the one listed for 1898 to 1910: http://www.kitclassics.co.uk/kits/portsmth.png

See this link for information about The Pompey Trust which was one year old on 16/12/2010: http://www.pompeytrust.com/
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HATVENT CALENDAR 15/12/2010

Can you see the red stars on today's hat? Yes me too! This hat represents Red Star Belgrade.

There is an important link between Red Star Belgrade and Pompey: their current manager is Robert Prosinecki, the most skillful player I have ever seen grace Fratton Park. Prosinecki was appointed manager of Red Star Belgrade in December 2010.

See here for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Prosine%C4%8Dki

And here's a picture of Prosinecki from the front cover of the matchday programme against Coventry City on 26th February 2002:

Earlier that month Prosinecki had scored a hat-trick in a 4-4 home draw against Barnsley, a game I went to. These pictures are from that game:


Master Pompey Chicken had 'Prosinecki' on the back of his Pompey shirt! Not the cheapest of names to pick!

We used to play football in the lounge doing Prosinecki impressions - a quick trick with the ball and a quick drag on an imaginary cigarette - before beating 25 players and scoring the greatest goal ever scored! Gooaaalllll!

When Pompey played Burnley that season I made sure Master PC came too so we could say we had seen Robert Prosinecki and Paul Gascgoine on the pitch at the same time - and at Fratton Park too! They were on the pitch together, but not for very long, I think one of them came on as a sub (Gazza?) and the other shortly departed the field of play - a bit of an anti-climax, but we can say we saw them both play that day albeit not the way we had envisaged.

Prosinecki's one season at Fratton Park was fantastic, it was a shame he didn't stay for one more season and experience the promotion year but he left behind so many great memories he'll never be forgotten.
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LOST FOOTBALLS

Latest Note

Spotted in Havant, October 12 2013.
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Previous Notes
I've added a few new pictures to my 'Lost Footballs' collection.


The balls were flying out of the ground on a regular basis during Pompey's visit to Mansfield on August 24th. This 'lost football' end up on the roof of the stand and rolled behind the gantry on the top of one of the stands. Can you see it?


This squashed red football was spotted in Waterlooville, behind Waitrose.


Spotted basking in the late Summer sunshine, in a field near Salisbury.


I spotted this classic 'lost football' in June 2013. It was on the roof of the bike sheds next to a play area in a Bristol residential area.
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Previous Pictures

This 'lost football' was taken on the last day of the 2012-13 League One season at Shrewsbury Town.


Also taken at Shrewsbury Town, this has become one of my favourite 'lost football' pictures. I just love the way everyone is looking at the ball. Poor old Johnny Ertl! He just wanted to get on with the game!

Taken at the opening match of the 2011-12 Championship season at The Riverside, home of Middlesbrough on 06/08/2011 - a friendly steward throws an inflatable football back in to the travelling Pompey fans.

Nine footballs lined up before a Pompey match at Fratton Park in the 2011-12 Championship season.

Chuckle. Spotted at Pompey's last game of the 2011-12 Championship season at The City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest, on 28/04/2012.

I spotted this one when I was on a train just outside Gatwick Airport, yet another ball alongside a railway line.

Ha, ha! I spotted these 'lost footballs' before the opening day fixture of the 2012-13 season at Fratton Park against AFC Bournemouth 18/08/2012.

Spotted outside the Broadfield Stadium, home of Crawley Town 09/09/2012, the biggest 'lost football' yet!

A pukka 'lost football, spotted outside of Matalan in Portsmouth on 15/09/2012.


On Saturday 31/03/2012 I took the train into Portsmouth for the Pompey versus Burnley match (not enough fuel in the tank you see what with all the 'panic buying' that was going on).

At least I can thank Frances Maude for producing something positive with his 'fill yer tanks and jerry cans' pronouncement that led to this very fruitful adventure between Fratton and Portsmouth & Southsea.

I've tweeted on a number of occasions how many 'lost footballs' I'd spotted on previous train trips in to the city and yesterday provided the perfect opportunity to capture them on camera. All in all it was a rich haul although they weren't all on the railway line as you can see below.

Why are there so many 'lost footballs' along the train track? Well, the close proximity of housing, play areas, footpaths and routes to school must all play a part. A few too many over exuberant kicks in the excitement of trying to recreate, relive or replicate a moment of football brilliance seen at Fratton Park or on the TV. I'm sure there is a story behind every single ball, that's what I'd like to think anyway.

The simple fact of the matter is that once a ball goes anywhere near the railway line it truely is 'lost' but at the same time there for everyone to see. Unlike the bottom of of an overgrown garden there really is no chance of a safe retrieval - and I am not advocating one either by the way. Railway lines are dangerous, certainly not places to venture and these footballs sadly come to rest never to be kicked in anger again. They sit there forever open to the elements, soaked by the rain and baked in the sun until they eventually rot away lost to the game forever.

I spotted this one from the train as it approached Portsmouth & Southsea Station. Is it a football? It looks like one to me!

An old leather football, yellowing and decaying by the side of the line accompanied by a large, discarded sanding disc.

A green football trapped between the tracks, it looks a bit like a bowling ball.

The saddest, deflated ball of all - I think it's a football anyway, can't think what else it is - you can just about make out the form of its black and white panels.

I have concluded that there is an awful lot of rubbish dumped alongside railway lines as this picture clearly shows. Where does all this sh*t come from? Anyway, there amongst all the garbage, sitting proudly on top of the cable trunking (I assume that's what it is) is an old white leather football, refusing to die gracefully, accompanied by a white bin liner but looking down disdainfully on the other fox and seagull chewed trash.

It took me a while to find this one on the walk back to Fratton Station. I'd seen it from the train but didn't see it the first time I walked passed it. I took this picture after the match walking back towards Portsmouth & Southsea.

I also spotted these two 'lost footballs' shown below, stuck in the trees outside a local school playground. Never to be played with again but they have a grand view of all the matches that take place below them.

Well and truely wedged in to a tree - I/II

Well and truely wedged in to a tree - II/II

I spotted this football on Sunday 01/04/2012, tucked away in the trees and foliage by the railway bridge by Havant Cemetry. It's only become visible recently. It's a yellow and plastic ball.

Former Pompey 'keeper David James, now of Bristol City, seems to be searching for the 'lost football' during the pre-match warm up on 17/03/2012 (it made me smile anyway ;-D )

On Valentine's Day (14/02/2012) I was walking to Gunwharf Quays and saw this 'lost football' in the Royal Navy ground at Burnaby Road:

This could be one of the best 'lost football' pictures yet (;-D) spotted at Selhurst Park on 01/11/2011 during the Crystal Palace versus Pompey game:

I spotted this one on the 15th October 2011 in the electricity substation area at the back of the North Stand of Fratton Park:

This was spotted in the grounds of the old Railway Tavern next to Havant Railway Station on 11th October 2011:

This was spotted near Tesco Extra in Havant during August

These two balls were spotted at Center Parcs, Elvedon Forest in August 2011

Spotted in Havant 04/07/2011 - only temporarily lost perhaps - it was 'abandoned' on the driveway after a kickabout - but I couldn't resist!

Spotted in Havant 03/07/2011. Is that a football down there by the railway line?

Yes it is! However...I think this may have been spotted before (on 23/12/2010) and this is its latest resting place. So, lost...found...and lost again. A sad way for a crushed football to end its days don't you think?

"'Ere Mister! Can I 'ave my ball back?". Look hard enough and you can see it in this picture...a football kicked over the hedge by the boy next door. Lost for a while but eventually found and retrieved with the aid of my trusty stepladder:

Here are some pictures of 'lost footballs' from the Pompey vs Norwich City game at Fratton Park on 02/05/2011 - part of the Norwich fans' promotion celebrations:

Seen at Glanford Park, Scunthorpe 07/05/2011:

Seen near Salisbury 22/02/2011:

Seen in Havant 27/12/2010:

Seen in Havant 23/12/2010:

Seen in Havant 19/12/2010, it's an ickle tiny Buzz Lightyear football

Seen in Havant 19/12/2010 - and yes I know it's a basketball, but I couldn't resist!

This is one you may have seen before on this blog - it was taken in Salford Quays, Manchester on the way to the FA Cup QF in 2007-08 between Manchester United and Pompey.

A deflated orange football in a field on the way to Emsworth, Hampshire 12/12/2010 - maybe it's of Dutch origin?

This one was trapped in the ice on the Mill Pond at Emsworth taken on 12/12/2010.