When news filtered through, prior to the match, that Pompey had signed Christian Dailly on a short term deal and he would be on the bench, little did anyone know at that point he would have an influence on the result.
Luke Varney's equaliser came in added time and was the result of a long-range Dailly effort that the Middlesbrough defenders failed to deal with. The ball fell to Varney who smashed the ball home with his right foot and went off on a celebratory slide through the puddles by the corner flag in front of the jubilant travelling fans followed by other players.
Dailly, now a 38 year old veteran in football parlance, had spent the last couple of seasons at Charlton Athletic in League One. He had been training with Pompey during the week leading up to this fixture.
A draw was just about deserved by Pompey although the home team will have been very disappointed at letting slip three points.
Although Middlesbrough played well, after they went 2-1 up they did drop back deeper and deeper heaping pressure on themselves.
Steve Cotterill made some tactical substitutions midway through the second half which changed the way Pompey approached the game in the last quarter. Joel Ward dropped from midfield to right back with Ryan Williams in front of him. Ward looks a much better player in that position. Kanu came on and held the ball up well and more importantly used it well to exert pressure on the home team's defence. It was Kanu who was urging the Pompey players forward towards the end of the match!
The move finally paid off.
The game had started brightly for Pompey and in the opening 20 minutes they looked the better team, settling in well and passing the ball around with confidence.
The best chance of the first half fell to Dave Kitson early on but his shot was very well blocked by goalkeeper Carl Ikeme. On another day Kitson would have slotted the ball home and the story might have been very different.
As it was Middlebrough took the lead on 24 minutes when the lively Emnes shot from the edge of the penalty area and saw the ball hit the back of the net after deflecting off Ricardo Rocha's last gasp effort to block. It was the first shot the home team had on target in the match.
Lesser teams might have buckled but Pompey have some experienced professionals in their ranks and just after the half-time break Pompey skipper David Norris found himself in the box, turned and scored the equaliser.
Middlesbrough struck back within 7 minutes to make it 2-1, Australian Reece Williams - brother of Pompey's substitute Ryan - slotted home after a massive hole opened up in the middle of Pompey's defence.
Following that goal the game descended in to a niggly phase with the referee Mr Salisbury dishing out a number of yellow cards. Pompey can ill-afford suspensions, the squad size being what it is, so this was not an auspicious start to the season. Five Pompey players were booked: Halford, Ben Haim, Hreidarsson, Ward and Mokoena.
The weather didn't help matters - the rain was incessant throughout much of the afternoon and led to some surface water building up on the pitch, the ball occasionally coming to a sudden, splashing, standstill putting players off their stride.
Some highlights from the second half worth mentioning were the two excellent saves Jamie Ashdown made to keep Pompey in with a shout. The first was a dive, low to his right from Mcdonald, pushing the ball around the goalpost. The second was a blocked save tipping an effort from Emnes over the crossbar. How crucial those saves were to be.
So, a good outcome for Pompey in difficult conditions at times both on and off the field. It's early days and the Transfer Window is still open. The team is still very much 'work in progress'. Liam Lawrence was injured and didn't feature. Jason Pearce was serving a suspension carried over from last season. Williams aside no other younger players were risked. The bench looked painfully thin, reflecting the threadbare nature of the overall squad. This despite the reduction of substitutes in the Football League regulations from seven to five.
However, when the wash-up is done at the end of the 2011-12 season this might turn out to be a very valuable point saved against a Middlebrough team who will expect to be on the edge of the promotion play-offs under the wily leadership of Boro legend Tony Mowbray.
We shall see.
Portsmouth versus Middlesbrough: Jamie Ashdown, Tal Ben Haim, Greg Halford, Ricardo Rocha, Hermann Hreidarsson, Aaron Mokoena, David Norris, Hayden Mullins, Joel Ward, Luke Varney and Dave Kitson. Substitutes: Stephen Henderson, Christian Dailly, Kanu, Ryan Williams.
Pompey MOTM: there were some good performances all around the park for Pompey: Halford had a good first half, Ben Haim had his moments, Ashdown made some very good saves in the second half and Varney scored to give Pompey a share of the spoils on his competitive debut. However, for me David Norris just clinches it. A first competitive game for Pompey since his move from Ipswich Town in the Summer, he wore the captain's armband with pride and celebrated his equalising goal in front of the Pompey fans like someone who means business.
Attendance: 18,194. The Riverside is a big stadium, there were plenty of seats availabale all around the ground. There were just under 600 travelling Pompey fans. All in all a good turnout by all concerned - the weather conditions were attrocious.
Next up for Pompey: Barnet in the Carling Cup on Tuesday August 9th at Fratton Park, kick-off 7:45PM BST
Source for Pompey line-up: www.portsmouthfc.co.uk
Match Action Pictures From The Riverside
BlueThruAndThru
