Pompey and Leeds United fought out their second high-scoring draw of the season in this entertaining Championship encounter at Fratton Park.
On the 28th December the two teams drew 3-3 at Elland Road with Pompey getting a late equaliser; lots of goals in both teams but a nightmare for defensive coaches.
It's a shame that this game will probably be remembered as much for the power supply problems that interrupted the match twice in the second half as for the football played. See this link for more information on that: http://tinyurl.com/5tsjn35
Pompey had much the better of the first-half and Leeds United the second so a share of the spoils was probably fair on reflection.
Leeds came into the game following their tough mid-week defeat against Arsenal in their FA Cup 3rd round replay at Elland Road played in front of a crowd just shy of 40,000. The crowd at Fratton Park was just over 20,000 but both were their club's biggest crowds of the season. The Leeds' fans took over the whole of the Milton End which made for an excellent atmosphere.
Pompey were forced in to a change of line-up. Greg Halford coming in to the team following his suspension to replace South African skipper Aaron Mokoena who was starting his own two match ban. Suspensions are starting to bite hard. Belgian Ritchie de Laet on loan from Manchester United made his home debut. The bench again looked 'light' on options with just four outfielders named. Liam Lawrence took over the captain's armband from Mokoena for this match.
Pompey started very brightly from the first whistle and Utaka was just unable to make contact on a cross from the right hand side from his fellow Nigerian Kanu in the opening exchange.
A minute later and Jamie Ashdown was called into action to claw away a Max Gradel shot from outside of the box. It was an ungainly looking save but effective. It was one of the few effective chances Leeds mustered in the first period.
Pompey had a string or corners during the first half as they looked to put the visitors under pressure in front of their own fans. Greg Halford came close on a couple of occasions including a header that rattled the cross-bar, shame he wouldn't be able to tweet about it after the game.
Both Sonko and Halford were causing the Leeds' defenders problems at set-pieces although at times they also got in each other's way.
David Nugent, Liam Lawrence and John Utaka were all looking lively up front for Pompey.
The hard-working Nugent blasted one shot high and wide over the Milton End stand and out of the ground for Barry, from the Pompey backroom staff, to trott off and retrieve, encouraged by claps and cheers from the fans in the South Stand as always. Poor old Barry seems to spend more time retrieving the ball since the introduction of a roof on the Milton End than he ever used to. I wonder if the facts back up the perception?
Just before the half hour Pompey's pressure finally paid off following good work by Lawrence down the left flank. The ball found its way to Joel Ward just outside of the penalty box and the youngster drilled home the shot past the diving Kasper Schmeichel's right hand. It was a terrific strike.
Having your picture on the front of the matchday magazine and a feature article inside obviously did his confidence no harm at all. Many of the Pompey players celebrated by diving on top of the goalscorer who emerged a few seconds later red faced but unscathed.
Shortly after Pompey's goal their lead was almost doubled as Utaka cut inside from the left and made his way into the box before unleashing a powerful shot that Schmeichel pushed away for another corner. Utaka was having a lively afternoon, also being pulled up on a number of occasions for fouls. Although it's disappointing to give away free-kicks at least it shows he's putting in the effort to track back and cover a bit more of the midfield, a positive sign.
Although the referee was making positive decisions outside of the box, inside it was a different story with both teams having good shouts for penalties following handballs. The first came when a Leeds' defender appeared to control the ball on the dead ball line as he was clearing the ball following a corner kick. The second came when the ball appeared to hit Sonko in the Pompey penalty area. Mr Taylor was unmoved.
Hayden Mullins was having another workmanlike but effective game in the midfield alongside Ward. In amongst the debris of the contractual issues that have effectively brought to an end the Pompey careers of Richard Hughes and Michael Brown, Mullins has shouldered a huge burden in the centre of the park. He's gone about his business quietly and without too much fuss, he really is an unsung hero. He breaks up play, he carries the ball away from the danger area and he occasionally finds himself in good shooting positions. He is a super professional and a great example for the youngster Ward to learn from.
Joel Ward was having a Man of the Match performance, his goal gave him an extra spring and he bounded around the pitch, making up ground on Leeds attackers, closing them down, making blocks and tackles. It was his best match in a blue shirt to date and one that was acknowledged formally when he won the official sponsors' award.
Pompey's starting back four comprised completely of loan players (de Laet, Halford, Sonko and Dickinson) in the absence of the suspended Aaron Mokoena. However, despite its 'temporary' nature the defence appeared a little more composed than it has during some recent matches despite Sonko and Dickinso having their moments. Halford playing in the middle of the defence alongside Sonko certainly seemed to work and De Laet appears to be a good prospect.
HT: Portsmouth 1-0 Leeds United
Leeds emerged earlier than their opponents for the second half, perhaps they had hoped to catch a glimpse of the University of Portsmouth Cheerleaders before the game resumed.
Leeds started the second half very brightly and within two minutes of the restart they were level. The linesman flagged for a free-kick, Dickinson adjudged to have handled the ball. On another day it would not have been given. The on-loan defender was in the linesman's ear for a while afterwards.
Unfortunately, Dickinson having given away the free kick was also at fault for the goal. The cross came in from Robert Snodgrass from the right and somehow Jonathan Howson managed to keep the ball in play on the dead ball line, with Dickinson seemingly looking to shepherd it out, he passed the ball across goal and the Argentinian Luciano Becchio was the first to react to fire it home. It was a poor goal to concede. The Leeds' fans went wild.
The impressive Snodgrass was starting to come in to the game more and more for the visitors. Sometimes you do wonder when a player wears the 'Michael Jordan' number 23 shirt but Snodgrass lives up to it. He is a very good player and was making Leeds tick just that bit quicker than they did in the first half. With Max Gradel and Becchio also coming in to the game more it looked like Leeds were in the ascendency.
Unfortunately, the Manchester United loanee de Laet limped out of the game shortly after the goal due to a groin problem. He was replaced by Ricardo Rocha who was returning from injury himself (hamstring related). Rocha moved to central defence and Halford went to right back in the re-shuffled formation.
Just before this substitution the first of three power failures occurred, not enough to halt play but it was a small taste of what was to come later in the game. The floodlights went off briefly.
Jamie Ashdown had a much busier second half than first punching crosses clear and making a number of good saves, one in particular low down to his right late on to keep Pompey in the game.
Despite Leeds being the better team in the second half Pompey did manage to re-take the lead just after the hour.
The ball went forward to Kanu who flicked on a header to Utaka in the penalty box. He quickly swivelled to his left, got free of his marker and shot home with his right foot. It was a very well taken goal and much deserved.
His goal celebration was not up to scratch though, his attempt at a flip saw him land on his backside. Oh for the days of LuaLua when you knew you were going to see a proper gymnastic piece of action after a goal scoring exploit. Utaka's effort was rubbish in comparison.
Pompey's defensive shortcomings were quickly exposed again. When is a team at its most vulnerable? Yes that's right, shortly after they have scored. And South African Davide Somma, who had only just come on as substitute, found himself in plenty of space in the middle of the park. He drove towards the goal and unleashed a tremendous shot that zipped past Ashdown diving to his right and nestled in the corner of the net to level the scores. Pompey had been ahead for a minute.
The remainder of the game became quite fragmented, despite both teams endeavoring to score a winner. Unfortunately, two further power failures did lead to interruptions in play and the game drifted to its conclusion, finally being called to a halt at about five minutes past five.
On reflection a draw was a fair result. Pompey had the best of the first half and Leeds the best of the second. It was disappointing that Pompey were twice pegged back having had the lead, but a point is a point. It brings to an end run of three consecutive defeats (Watford, Hull City and Nottingham Forest).
Unfortunately, the current form table, based on the last six matches, sees Pompey in the bottom three just Sheffield United and Coventry City below them both losers over the weekend.
Pompey are currently in 18th position in the actual Championship table on 31 points from 26 games. The Play-Off spots look out of reach now, Nottingham Forest – the form team of the division – are 6th on 43 points. Twelve points is surely too much to make-up at this stage.
Next up is Burnley at home under their new manager former Cherries' favourite Eddie Howe on Tuesday January 25th at 7:45PM.
FT: Portsmouth 2-2 Leeds United
Portsmouth team vs. Leeds United: Jamie Ashdown, Ritchie de Laet, Greg Halford, Ibrahimo Sonko, Carl Dickinson, Liam Lawrence (captain), Hayden Mullins, Joel Ward, David Nugent, Kanu, John Utaka. Substitutes: Daryll Flahavan, Ricardo Rocha, Hermann Hreidarsson, Tom Kilbey, Nadir Ciftci.
Attendance: 20,040
Pompey MOTM: Joel Ward
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