Welcome to Brunton Park, home of Carlisle United.
Pompey left Cumbria empty handed after
a very disappointing performance against Carlisle United at Brunton
Park; they deserved nothing from this game despite a spirited last
quarter when they were urged on by the noisy band of travelling fans.
On-loan Birmingham City striker Jake
Jervis, making his debut for The Cumbrians, opened the scoring
for the home team inside the quarter hour.
Danny Livesey extended the lead within
the first two minutes of the second half.
Following the sending off of on-loan
Burnley defender Kevin Long for two yellow card offences, the match
closed out with a mad, fifteen minute, goal fest. Substitutes Ashley
Harris and Connor Clifford scored for Pompey and James Berrett and
Danny Madden for Carlisle United.
Adam Webster came in to Pompey's
starting line-up in place of Lee Williamson who picked up a slight
hamstring injury at Colchester United earlier in the week. Mustapha
Dumbuya played further forward on the right side of midfield where he
had been very effective in that match. Midfielder Kieran Djilali was
also absent from the match day squad with a back injury.
Unfortunately for Pompey Webster picked
up what appeared to be a hip injury during the first half hour and
was replaced by Jordan Obita. The change thwarted Pompey's ability to
exploit Dumbuya's attacking abilities for much of the match as he
dropped in to the right back position.
On the plus side, the change meant that
Pompey had one of the outstanding talents on display during the
afternoon with the presence of the lively Obita.
During the first two League One games
of the season Pompey played some nice passing football using the
channels and width well. On this occasion their passes were often
misjudged or misplaced and the home side exploited those errors to
establish themselves as the dominant team.
Carlisle had opportunities aplenty in
the opening phase of the game as they looked to get on top quickly
with both Jervis and Matthew Robson having efforts on goal. Pompey's
best effort came through a long-range Liam Walker shot.
Jon Harley heads away a cross fired in to the dangerzone.
Ummm. Good job this free kick didn't hit Luke Rodgers arm!
Carlisle made their dominance pay in
the 13th minute. Jon Harley uncharacteristically lost the
ball on the right hand side which was crossed in to the penalty area
for Jervis to head home unchallenged past Andersen.
Pompey's best work in the first half
happened down the left hand flank with Jack Compton and Harley both
getting crosses in to the box, but to no avail. One Compton free-kick
was mis hit over the cross bar by Livesey. Goalkeeper Adam Collin
spilled one Harley cross.
Pompey's best chance of the half fell
to Izale McLeod, who was put clean through in the penalty area by
Luke Rodgers but just as he was about to get off his shot he slipped,
kicked the air, fell to the ground and the chance had gone. That
rather comical moment summed up McLeod's match and Pompey's first
half performance.
Carlisle had clearly been the stronger
team and they ended the half with a couple more decent efforts on
Andersen's goal from James Berrett and a Peter Murphy free kick
conceded by Kevin Long who significantly was booked for the foul.
HT: Carlisle United 1-0 Portsmouth
Any hopes Pompey fans had of Michael
Appleton's half-time team talk producing a different level of
performance were quickly thwarted.
Shortly after the restart Jervis fired
off a shot which Andersen tipped around the left upright and Jon-Paul
McGovern's corner fround Livesey unmarked in the penalty area to head
home.
Pompey's inability to effectively deal
with set-pieces has already begun to stand out as problematic; this
was the third goal conceded from a cross or a corner this season all
from the right hand side.
Walker, Rodgers and Obita continued to
seek out McLeod up front but the moves were just not coming off. The
one real opportunity he did have to shoot on goal was blazed over the
cross bar on to the empty terracing behind.
With a few disgruntled murmerings heard
amongst the Pompey fans it was no surprise when McLeod was eventually
withdrawn as part of a double substitution, his place up front being
taken by Ashley Harris.
McLeod will have much better days, he
gets in to some excellent positions and will always have
opportunities to score at this level. However, Pompey fans may need
to adjust their expectations of him.
As the Pompey fans cranked up the
volume their team started their best period of the match. Compton had
a long range effort that was a long way off target and Walker struck
an excellent free-kick from just outside the 'D' of the penalty area
that Carlisle keeper Collin saved well. The best effort came from
Obita rattled the frame of the goal with a powerfully struck, long
distance shot that hit the cross bar.
Pompey send in a free-kick during the second half.
Another set-piece for Carlisle to defend.
More second half action.
Just as Pompey seemed to be making some
headway they suffered a blow when Kevin Long received a second yellow
card for a challenge from behind on the half way line. Mr Ilderton
flashed yellow followed by red and Long traipsed off the field of
play past the dugouts and in to the tunnel looking wet, bedraggled
and very sorry for himself.
The play opened up as both teams tired
and committed fouls; chances started to appear at both ends in what
was a gung-ho final fifteen minutes with four more goals.
It was ten man Pompey who scored the
first of those four, Ashley Harris found space and rose very well in
the box to powerfully head home Walker's corner, not a bad effort
from Harris who is not the tallest of players.
Ashley Harris [in orange, far left] gets ready to pounce and head the ball home.
With just two minutes of normal time
left Pompey sensed they could escape from Brunton Park with a draw
but that was dashed as Berrett added a third Carlisle goal in the
91st minute. In the 93rd minute Connor Clifford
passed the ball in to an unguarded net to add Pompey's second.
Surely the impossible wasn't going to
happen was it? No. With 96 minutes on the clock, the fourth official
had originally signalled a minimum of four added minutes, Madden
added the final goal of the game and Carlisle's fourth to seal their
deserved victory.
The referee blew his whistle
immediately after the restart sending the home fans home happy and
the leaving the Pompey fans wondering what might have been.
FT: Carlisle United 4-2 Portsmouth
Final Comments
For most of this match Pompey just were
not at the races, such a contrast to the first half performance
against AFC Bournemouth but particularly the mid-week match against
Colchester United.
This defeat was a reality check, a big
reminder that Pompey are still a couple of weeks behind other clubs
with their League One preparations and are still short of experienced
players who can be competitive in this division.
Of more immediate concern are the
implications of Kevin Long's red card which leaves Michael Appleton
without a 'natural', experienced centre back (Paul Connolly is a
utility defender whose preferred position is full-back as I
understand it).
With injuries to Williamson, Djilali
and now Webster Pompey's threadbare 'squad', if it can be called
that, is under great pressure far earlier in the season than anyone
at the Club imagined.
It's going to be an interesting next
few days, longer term who knows what lies ahead.
Portsmouth versus Carlisle United:
Mikkel Andersen, Adam Webster (replaced by Jordan Obita in the 35th
minute), Paul Connolly, Kevin Long, Jon Harley, Mustapha Dumbuya,
Brian Howard, Liam Walker, Jack Compton, Luke Rodgers (replaced by
Ashley Harris in the 78th minute), Izale McLeod (replaced
by Connor Clifford in the 78th minute). Substitute not
used: Simon Eastwood.
Referee: Mr E Ilderton
Attendance: 5,120 (including 647
Pompey fans who made the trip to Cumbria)
Man Of The Match: Pompey's stand
out player was Jordan Obita
Next Up: Pompey's next match is
in League One on Saturday September 1st, at Fratton Park
against Oldham Athletic, kick-off 3PM.
BlueThruAndThru
