Pompey Chicken spent the evening at home in the Pompey Observatory watching the game between Watford and Portsmouth from Vicarage Road live on Sky TV. Here's his match report.
Pompey were forced to make changes for this match. Michael Brown, Richard Hughes, Liam Lawrence and Dave Kitson were all unable to play. The first three for reasons related to contracts.
Brown and Hughes each have a clause that will trigger new contracts at Premier League wage levels. The Premier League 'promised land' just continues to give and give. The permanent signing of Liam Lawrence, which was confirmed before the game, didn't happen quickly enough to make him eligible to play.
Kitson was serving a one-match ban having reached five yellow cards during added time in the Leeds United game.
Kanu and Ciftci came into the starting line-up in midfield, Joel Ward was also pushed in to midfield duty, Greg Halford dropped to right back. Ibrahimo Sonko partnered Aaron Mokoena in the centre of defence, not a partnership that has been particularly successful to date. Ward and Jamie Ashdown had been fitness doubts before the match but were declared fit to start.
Pompey's bench highlighted the massive senior squad deficiencies: it contained only three outfield players, none of them strikers and one of them, Tom Kilby, yet to make his competitive first-team debut for Pompey. Kilby, the former Millwall player, was joined on the bench by Hreiradarsson and Rocha with suspect hamstrings according to the TV commentators. Great. Flahaven was the substitute 'keeper.
Pompey were in their traditional blue shirts, white shorts and red socks. Watford in yellow shirts, black shorts and yellow socks.
Over 1,100 Pompey fans had made the journey to Vicarage Road in a crowd of just under 13,000 an excellent turnout once again from the Fratton Faithful.
With little time for 'big match build-up' the game was underway seemingly as soon as the automatic reminder had flashed up on the screen and the select button on the handset pressed. Oh the joys of being in the Championship. This was an air time filler, not a MNF game or a part of a Super Sunday with all the stats, facts, history, in-depth profiles and so on. Just a way of Sky offering some sort of football alternative to Birmingham-Arsenal on ESPN.
Pompey had a few bright moments at the start. David Nugent had an early shot over the bar after Nadir Ciftci had held the ball up well on the edge of the box and laid it off.
Kanu was seeing a lot of the ball early on finding spaces and distributing passes in his nonchalant languid style. He is a joy to watch at times.
On 10 minutes Watford had their first meaningful effort, Martin Sordell on loan from Birmingham City, cut in from the right hand side but fired his shot over the bar.
In the 14th minute Pompey won a corner which when taken resulted in short passes between Utaka and his Nigerian compatriot Kanu the ball eventually being slipped to Greg Halford whose shot went wide of the left had upright.
A minute later there was 'panic' in the Watford defence as Kanu weaved some magic to get himself into the penalty box, the ball flying into the air and palmed over the bar by Loach. Nothing came of the Pompey corner.
Almost immediately the ball was at the other end of the pitch as the home team started to exert a little bit of pressure on their visitors. Graham's shot was saved by Ashdown but following the corner the pressure dissipated as Mutch fouled the wily Kanu.
In the 18th minute Utaka did well down the left flank and won Pompey another corner but once again this came to nothing as no Pompey player could get on the end of it.
Watford were gaining in confidence with a lot of good work being done by Sordell and Buckley. On 20 minutes Sordell displayed some good skill and tricks to fire off a shot which was met by the head of Pompey skipper Aaron Mokoena. Sky TV showed Watford had 55% of the possession to this point in the match.
On 24 minutes Mokoena again defended well as Buckley ran down the right flank and crossed the ball, The Axe blocking the cross to concede another corner. Pompey's defending was not very convincing as the ball fell to an unmarked Taylor but somehow Kanu managed to clear the ball from danger.
A minute later Buckley was at it again, displaying some good wing play down the right and winning another corner. This time the ball went out of play from the corner and came back in: goal kick. A wasted opportunity for the home team.
The Pompey fans, gathered in one corner of Vicarage Road, called out a request to Pompey's manager: “Stevie, give us a wave! Stevie, Stevie, give us a wave!” they chanted. He duly obliged as the resulting cheers on the TV coverage confirmed, no picture proof though.
In the 28th minute Buckley went down under a Dickinson challenge following another good Watford move who were starting to look the stronger team. Dickinson was having a torrid time at left back. Have opposition coaches found his defensive frailties out?
The Sky TV commentators commented on how quiet it was at Vicarage Road but the Pompey fans were coming through loud and clear.
Nugent playing up front on his own in the absence of Kitson was beginning to look isolated. Neither Ciftci, Utaka or Kanu could link up with him from the midfield. This isolation wouldn't help address the Sky TV stat which announced that Pompey had only scored 9 first half goals so far this season.
In the 33rd minute Pompey won their fourth corner of the game following good work by Mokoena whose pass to Halford was crossed by the on-loan Wolves man and deflected out. Again frustratingly the corner came to nothing.
To mix it up a bit Utaka and Ciftci swapped wings.
In the 36th minute Graham headed the ball down to Buckley who couldn't keep his shot down and saw it blasted high over the bar.
Kanu continued to act as the link man although the final killer ball wasn't always there. In the 37th minute he threaded a through ball to Nugent but the ball hit the striker on the back. It was turning into a frustrating evening for Nugent ploughing a lone furrow up front, he wasn't getting good enough service from across the midfield and was living off scraps.
In the 40th minute another Watford move, inspired by the impressive Buckley, broke down and Pompey were able to break away but Ciftci's shot at the end of the move was well wide.
A minute later Pompey went behind having conceded another corner. From the set-piece Ashdown tried to punch the ball away from the danger area with both fists but it was a poor effort landing at the edge of the box where Andrew Taylor smacked a superb volley back past the 'keeper and into the net.
The first half ended following a minute of added time and another Pompey corner that was cleared and faded into nothing.
HT Watford 1-0 Pompey
The Sky TV commentators offered watching Pompey fans a glimmer of hope by announcing that Watford had failed to keep a clean sheet at home so far this season. When Kanu put through Utaka but saw the ball just cut out and Nugent forced Taylor to concede a throw-in under pressure it looked like Pompey might be able to force their way back in to the game and maintain the home team's record.
But it wasn't to be. On 51 minutes Sordell found himself put through one-on-one with Ashdown after a Pompey move broke down in the middle of the park, Ciftci losing the ball. Sordell was clearly onside and his defence splitting run ended with him calmly picking his spot and slotting the ball home, doubling the home team's lead.
Two minutes later Pompey could have been in even more danger but Utaka's clear foul, committed on the edge of his own box, wasn't spotted by either the referee or his assistant.
On 56 minutes Dickinson, who must have been fed up with seeing Buckley bearing down on him, decided to chop the Watford man down as he passed the Pompey defender for the umpteenth time in the game. He got a yellow card for his troubles.
Following the free-kick Sordell saw his shot deflected off a Pompey defender for another Watford corner. Worryingly for Pompey from the corner Doyley was able to jump unmarked in the box but put his header over the bar.
The Watford fans were starting to find their voices, for the first time in the game they could be heard on the TV. Perhaps they only sing when they're winning?
Just before the hour mark both teams made a substitution, Watford brought on Ross Jenkins for Eustace and significantly Pompey brought on Tom Kilby to replace Nadir Ciftci, for his first team debut. Pompey had obviously come to some arrangement with Millwall regarding Kilby as a sum of money was due to the London club once an appearance was made. The name 'Ross Jenkins' brought back memories of Watford days gone by and a former striker of the same name but not a relation.
Watford continued to pile on the pressure and Pompey conceded two quick corners, the first following a defender's slip, the second when Dickinson cleared a cross. Shortly afterwards Cowie crossed from the left but Ashdown safely gathered the cross at the near post.
In the 67th minute, with Ward and Halford swapping positions, Pompey did manage to get forward and Loach tipped Joel Ward's cross shot from the right hand side away for a corner from which Halford shot over. Was there some hope?
Sadly not. In the 69th minute Kanu, perhaps tiring, uncharacteristically lost the ball in midfield, Danny Graham was put through by Mutch and slotted home his 13th goal of the season, an impressive haul.
Watford now full of confidence strung together a series of passes to the fans' chants of ole! Ole! Talk about rubbing it in. It was starting to get a bit too much for some of the Pompey players as they lost their cool. On 73 minutes Utaka, who'd not had a very good game, was booked for a late challenge, showing his studs. He lost his composure after being involved in an earlier spat as well.
Pompey were all over the place defensively and on 77 minutes Mutch fired a shot across the face of goal after receiving a pass from Sordell.
With less than 10 minutes to go Pompey had a few half-efforts on goal. In the 82nd minute Ward was fouled and from the resulting free kick Kilby headed wide. A minute later and Kilby was again in action after Nugent headed the ball on to him down the left. But the youngster's cross hit the roof of the net.
Hreiradarsson came on as substitute for Sonko in the 84th minute.
Another failed attempt to put through Nugent, this time from Utaka, pretty much summed up Pompey's attempts to get their striker through on goal. This time the pass had just a fraction too much on it and the ball ran through to the 'keeper. When Nugent did finally have a chance, in the 88th minute, it was from a Halford cross but his header was a weak one and didn't trouble the 'keeper.
To round off a very poor evening for Pompey in the 91st minute Greg Halford was sent off, the referee producing a straight red card following a foul on Andrew Taylor and a bit of 'afters' as well, not exactly a headbutt but the heads did come together. Taylor remained cool, Halford foolishly did not. There can be no excuses. Pompey can ill-afford another loan player to be sitting out games due to suspension.
Watford deserved their victory on the night, they have beaten some decent teams recently including QPR and Cardiff City, they're no mugs and have started to build up some momentum under Malkie Mackay.
This was a poor Pompey performance there can be no doubt about that. Despite the obvious shortage of options on the bench they had enough experience on the pitch to trouble a Watford team they had beaten 3-2 earlier in the season at Fratton Park.
Unfortunately, David Nugent who has been Pompey's most potent threat in recent games didn't receive good enough service throughout the match.
Despite a bright start by Kanu he was unable to maintain the performance level for the full 90 minutes and looked to be tiring after about an hour's play.
John Utaka had another disappointing 'off-day' letting his frustrations get the better of him towards the end.
Sadly, Carl Dickinson's defensive weaknesses are beginning to be exposed by canny opposition coaches and managers. When he's put under pressure by a quick, skilful winger he does tend to struggle. Going forward he can be good, he crosses the ball well, but in this game he had few chances to do so.
Skipper Mokoena looks far more comfortable alongside Ricardo Rocha than Sonko the former seems to have been relegated to bit part performances recently, perhaps to protect an injury or proneness to injury. He's still a classy player and Pompey need him and his experience on the pitch.
The three Pompey youngsters who played will have better days than this one. But there's plenty of room for optimism. Joel Ward has impressed me everytime I've seen him, he looks good going forward, he's better at right back than in midfield. In a short space of time Tom Kilby showed a few nice touches, there's more to come from him and Nadir Ciftci has already shown this season he has a little bit about him to cause teams problems.
So, a bad day at the office for Pompey but things can turn very quickly in the Championship and they have another game on Monday 3rd January at Fratton Park against Hull City to get back on track quickly. There can be no doubt the spirit in the camp generally is good, especially if Greg Halford's pictures on TwitPic are anything to go by! Hopefully the Brown and Hughes contract issues can be satisfactorily resolved and with the January 2011 transfer window now open the opportunity is there for the owners to help Steve Cotterill freshen things up. Whether or not they will do so remains to be seen.
FT Watford 3-0 Portsmouth
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