Pompey fell to their fourth home defeat of the season following a disappointing performance against Burnley, played out in front of their lowest league crowd of the season: 13,345. They sit in 18th position in The Championship on 31 points just 5 points off the relegation zone. They haven't won in eight games and these are worrying times.
At the final whistle Steve Cotterill stood on the sidelines staring in to the distance as his team drifted off the Fratton Park pitch one-by-one following the defeat.
There were no handshakes, no pats on the back, no eye contact, nothing: just what the performance had merited.
Goodness knows what was going through his mind, but it wouldn't have been happy thoughts.
One thing is for sure this was the worst Pompey performance at Fratton Park this season and possibly topped the opening day defeat away to Coventry City when there was still so much up-in-the-air at the Club.
Cotterill's demeanor at the final whistle was such a contrast to the start of the match and most of the first half; he is a man of many gesticulations, firing out instructions from the very edge of his technical area, urging on the troops, almost to the point of being 'hyper'.
With a slightly subdued crowd almost every order, prefaced with a sharp whistle, was audible: “Nuge! Nuge!” do this...or “Hoggy! Hoggy!” do that...it's fascinating to watch the man at work.
Contrast that with Eddie Howe, the former Pompey player returing to Fratton Park as the newly appointed manager of The Clarets. His style is the complete opposite, quiet, calm, controlled. He is a man with an old head on very young managerial shoulders and will surely have a big future ahead of him in his chosen profession.
Pompey introduced Jonathan Hogg, on-loan from Aston Villa, in to the starting line-up to freshen things up a bit. Carl Dickinson dropped down to the bench. De Laet had recovered from a groin strain sufficiently to retain his place and played at left back. Joel Ward slotted in at right back. Liam Lawrence continued to wear the skipper's armband. Pompey named six substitutes something they've rarely done this season.
It must have been tough for Hogg coming straight in to make his debut having not trained with the team. He got a very early touch – taking the kick-off at the start of the match as Pompey attacked the Fratton End – but most of the first half play passed him by. He had a better second half.
All three goals, which came in an eight minute spell in the first-half, had something about them to admire. Sadly, Pompey's defending for the two goals Burnley scored left a lot to be desired.
Burnley opened the scoring in the 31st minute. Daniel Fox charged down the left flank, slipped and then recovered to get past Joel Ward and fire in a cross low and hard to the near post. Jay Rodriguez reacted far quicker than Sonko, got ahead of the defender and side footed the ball past Ashdown. It was a well taken goal.
Within two minutes Pompey were back on level terms. For the second match in a row Kanu and Utaka linked up well on the edge of the penalty area and Utaka found himself clear of his marker to fire a shot past the oncoming Burnley 'keeper.
Five minutes later and Pompey found themselves behind again. Within the space of a couple of seconds Pompey's defending went from the sublime to the ridiculous. As the ball came into the area it bobbled, Halford missed it and Ashdown made an excellent save to deny Steven Thompson when it looked certain he would score but the danger wasn't cleared. Dean Marney with his back to goal performed an acrobatic, overhead kick to restore Burnley's lead.
HT: Portsmouth 1-2 Burnley
For some reason Pompey often struggle when attacking the Milton End of the ground in the second half of a game. It happened again on this occasion.
The play got completely bogged down in the football equivalent of a stalemate. Neither team was able to generate a clear-cut opportunity.
There were one or two moments that briefly raised the spirits of the crowd, Utaka (shot wide), Nugent (clear on goal and passed to Utaka when he should have taken on the shot) and Lawrence (long-range free kick, deflected) all had chances but couldn't capitalise.
With limited attacking options on the bench, Cotterill tried to mix things up by bringing on Carl Dickinson for Kanu and towards the end of the game pushing Hermann Hreidarsson on up-front to make a nuisance of himself.
Hreidarsson replaced Hogg who had shown glimmers of a neat, sharpe, passing game that will surely come good as his time on the South Coast progresses. He is a player of slight stature and build but looks like he is quite capable of handling himself in the hurley-burley of the Championship.
Unfortunately, for Pompey neither substitution paid off.
The Dickinson-Kanu change led to De Laet being pushed in to the midfield on the left but he didn't look at all comfortable in that position. Hreidarsson didn't have enough time to make a difference.
With Lawrence and Nugent occasionally moving to different positions up front to try and find a way through Pompey's formation had an unsettled feel to it and their play reflected that. It was fragmented as passes went astray, set-pieces yielded nothing and moves frequently broke down.
The game fizzled out for Pompey as Burnley were able to see off any threat.
Referee Stuart Attwell had a reasonably solid game although he can be a bit whistle-happy at times. The one moment when he was asked to make a positive decision, the foul/no foul on Tyrone Mears in the penalty area during the first half, was met with the worst possible outcome: no decision. If it was a foul then it should have been a penalty to Burnley. If it wasn't a foul then it was a dive by Mears and he should have been booked. Atwell took the third way and waved play on.
Once again the playing riches unavailable highlighted how stretched the squad has become. Michael Brown, Richard Hughes, Dave Kitson and Aaron Mokoena were all out on the pitch before the game taking part in warm-ups. The latter two will return from suspension to bolster the numbers in the next game against QPR at Loftus Road. Who knows what will happen with Brown and Hughes.
Overall, this was a scrappy game and neither team played particularly good football. But Burnley looked solid across the park throughout, were able to produce two top-notch goal scoring moments and then defended their lead without really being unduly troubled; it was enough to secure them all three points.
At the final whistle there were boos from some of the home fans and that is a worrying sign for everybody at the Club. The fans have remained onside through thick and thin in their support for the team, it's been staunch, unwavering.
Booing the team is the first step on a slippery slope. They don't need to be reminded how poorly they played, they could see it in Steve Cotterill's demeanor as they left the pitch.
FT: Portsmouth 1-2 Burnley
Portsmouth versus Burnley: Jamie Ashdown, Ritchie De Laet, Greg Halford, Ibrahimo Sonko, Joel Ward, Liam Lawrence, Hayden Mullins, Jonathan Hogg, David Nugent, Kanu, John Utaka. Subs: Daryll Flahavan, Carl Dickinson, Hermann Hreidarsson, Nadir Ciftci, Ricardo Rocha, Tom Kilbey.
Pompey MOTM: the official award went to Hayden Mullins but the brightest Pompey player on the night was John Utaka although he was at fault in losing the ball that eventually lead to Burnley's second goal.
Next up: QPR on Tuesday 1st February at Loftus Road, kick-off 8PM.
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