You little beauty.

Supersub Conor Chaplin scorede sejresmålet, det fik Jack Whatmough til straks at tweete dette på twitter

“you little beauty”

Det fortæller to ting dette lille fine tweet, nemlig hvilken følelse fans og spillerne havde med scoringen samt at når spillerne på twitter roser hinanden, så er der en god stemning I truppen.

Kampen skulle vise sig at have al den kvalitet som fansene havde håbet på, for det var to hold der ville spille fodbold, i stedet for at spille afventende.

Det var ligeså kampen med flest tilskuere for Northampton, små 6.000 hvoraf Pompey havde solgt alle deres billetter.

Godt spil

Hjemmeholdet startede bedst og det var også dem der kom foran efter et hjørne, som kom efter lidt skidt Pompey forsvarsspil.

Desværre kunne Cresswell heade bolden ind ved bageste stolpe.

Pompey måtte bruge noget tid på at komme i gang, men snart var det gæsterne der havde bolden og begyndte at skabe mere, og snart begyndte chancerne at komme.

Det var derfor ganske fortjent at Pompey fik udlignet, McNulty havde været aktiv og kom fri af et par mand og sendte den ind i hovedet på Evans der med sit 4.sæsonmål fik udlignet.

Før pausen var der igen chancer i begge ender, størst til hjemmeholdet der måtte se Pompey sparke bolden væk fra mållinjen.

2.halvleg

Efter pauseteen kom Pompey igen stærkt ud og var holder der dikterede spillet og skabte mest, mens Northampton måtte se sig presset noget i bund.

Det fik hjemmeholdet til at skifte Ricky Holmes ind, og om han var årsagen til at der kom lidt mere balance skal ikke kunne siges, men pludselig var der et skud snert forbi, et hovedstød lige over mål samt Cresswell der scorede i første halvleg, der headede på overliggeren.

De to indskiftede Tollit og Chaplin skulle så blive de to helte på dagen, og hvis du læser Northamptons manager Wilder indlæg herunder, ja så er det en dum situation for hjemmeholdet.

For det var et hjørne til Northampton der førte frem til en hurtig kontra hvor Tollits skud blev halvklaret og så var Chaplin over riposten, og Chaplin blev dermed helten, 18 sekunder efter han var blevet indskiftet.

Trods føringsmålet i det 85 min, ja så fik Northampton skabt chancen, da indskiftede Calvert-Lewin headede på overliggeren i overtiden.

Pompey holdt hjem og det er dermed tæt i toppen.

Pompey ligger stadig nummer 4, 40 point efter 22 kampe, det er et pointsnit på 1,81, det er nok til oprykning!
Men som sagt det er tæt

43p Plymouth

43p Northampton

41p Oxford

40p Pompey

Lige udenfor Play off ligger Mansfield på 34 point, så sejren var vigtig for Pompey både på det pointmæssige, men ligeså for tiltroen på egne evner, og en sejr over topholdet, ja det er moralbooster.

Pompey går ind i det tætte juleprogram, og her skal de fortsætte med at træde i karakter. Vi glæder os

Skal vi slutte af med et par twittercitat

Matt Tubbs:
@officialpompey @ConorChaplin10 buzzing for you Chappy. Everyone loves a late winner

(klasse af vores skadede topscorer fra sidste sæson)

Pompey assistent manager Leam Richardsson:

‘When you win, they are always big results.

‘We have come to Northampton, who are a very good team, and it’s been a good game.

‘We felt that we got in the ascendancy in the second half but they always carried a threat.

‘The lads showed a lot of belief after going behind and we’re really pleased to get the win.

‘We scored a great goal with Gareth Evans’ equaliser and then the manager showed a lot of belief throwing on the young lads, with Ben Tollitt and Conor Chaplin going on and making a difference at the end.

‘It’s a good result but there is a long, long way to go this season.’

Northampton manager Chris Wilder:

“It’s an absolute scandal that they’ve scored from our corner,” lamented Wilder afterwards.

“He’s gone from 70 yards to score a goal and there’s no way that should happen from our corner.

“We’ve not organised ourselves properly, they then broke on us and the next minute the ball has gone 100 yards and it’s in the back of the net.

“It’s not us being negative but we had to play cautiously in that period without over-committing because they played the conditions better than us.

“We’d have taken a point and moved on – that’s not being negative.

“They’ve not had to work hard for their winning goal and that was the most disappointing thing.”

“It’s really disappointing because I don’t like losing and the players don’t either.

“i thought it was a really good game of football. They could score, we could score and I think we deservedly got our noses in front because we were outstanding for the first 20 to 25 minutes.

“We had a great opportunity to score again and make it 2-0 but knowing the quality of their players on the break and how outstanding their front four are, it was was a real difficult situation for us.

“We wanted to take the game to them but we knew they could play and they have threats and it was a great goal for their equaliser.

“It looked offside but it was fine margins between two sides at the top of the league.

“The wind machine picked up second half and it was difficult for us to get out because they pressed really well and stopped the forward balls.

“That allowed them to play high up the pitch and they were better than us for 25 minutes of the second half but then I thought we weathered the storm and got ourselves a foothold back in the game.

“We hit the bar and John-Joe should have scored and we looked as if we got ourselves going again and could have won it, but while knowing all the time that one ball, one counter-attack with the pace they’ve got, they can hurt you.”

Kommentarer fra The News:

A top, top show by the boys in blue and a lovely 3 points, just in time for Christmas. We should also give some credit to Northampton FC for providing an away fans’ bar outside the ground. Mind you, they would have got 10 out of 10 for this initiative if they’d provided other facilities too – after all, what goes in must come out.

Great game and well done to everyone…. A master stroke by Cooky to throw on the fearless youngsters. They both have blistering pace and are fearless and gave us that little bit extra when we needed it… In recent years we’ve been the team to concede such at goal at the end….

Great result against a very good team that is in form. We deserved it no question. I notice several comments on here about struggling from their corners. I am afraid this is down mainly to a keeper who rarely comes for crosses and stays at home. We really need a decent keeper now that Jones is going to be out for a few more months. I would like to us sign the Wolves keeper McCarey on loan for rest of the season or better still permanently.

Game could have gone either way today but, not unusually this season it ended up going our way. Again Clarke and Webster showed what a solid pairing they are, no showboating. I’m sorry to say Kyle Bennett continues to frustrate in the final third, although he did work hard and get some important tackles in. Just doesn’t seem to have the confidence to go passed people at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon. Tollitt came on for Kyle and provided a more direct option which, played a part in the winner. Great header from Evans for the our equaliser and I’m pleased to say Murphy played his part. PUP.

Chris Wilder is a manager I’ve long admired but I have to say I’m disappointed by his reaction to today’s result. He moans about an «offside» for our goal and then plays the mind games card with the talk about our resources, the pressure being on and the players we are able to afford. 
What a pity he could not bring a bit more class to his press conference and simply give credit to a side who played better and earned their victory with simple hardwork, commitment and appliacation.
Oh, and by the way, a message to Ricky………..PAYBACK!

It’s significant that we haven’t lost to any of the top teams and indicates what a strong team we are in all areas including our bench. Tollitt seems to be improving all the time and is very direct and Chaplin’s ability to be in the right place at the right time displays all the qualities of a top striker, but then we knew that already didn’t we.
Slightly worrying was the soft underbelly in defence, Burgess and Clarke early season were immense, subsequently Burgess and Webster were equally so.
However Clarke and Webster by comparison seemed young and raw with mistakes being made. I’m sure this will be worked on in the coming week.
Oh, and congrats Awfs on Luton’s 3-2 away win at Exeter.

League Two, Sixfields stadium, 19/12-2015

Northampton-Portsmouth 1-2 (1-1)

17 min 1-0 Cresswell

32 min 1-1 Evans

85 min 1-2 Chaplin

Pompey (4-2-3-1): Murphy; Davies, Webster, Clarke, Stevens; Hollands, Doyle (c); Evans, McNulty (McGurk 80), Bennett (Tollitt 76); Lavery (Chaplin 85)

Gule kort: McNulty, McGurk

Bænken: Bass, Haunstrup, Barton, Close, Tollit, Chaplin, McGurk

Tilskuere: 5,859 (938 Pompey fans)