7. gang var lykkens gang, for Luton
Efter 7 kampe i streg uden at kunne holde et clean sheet, ja så lykkedes Luton med det i kampen mod Pompey.
Inden kampen havde Andy Awford der er caretake manager hos Luton været ude og sige at han gerne så Luton angribe noget mere.
Stats efter kampen sagde
Skud på mål 17-4
Hjørne 13-0
Pompey fik skabt deres chancer, men det forløsende mål, ja det kom bare ikke, og dermed kunne Luton holde deres første clean sheet i 7.kampe.
Pompey stillede op som forventet med Barton i centerforsvaret, og lidt overraskende var der faktisk ikke en eneste defensiv spiller på Pompeys bænd, end ikke unge Brandon Haunstrup.
Mål fik de faktisk på Fratton Park. Et Ben Davies frispark tog sidenettet, og stadionspeakeren blev så glad at han annoncerede scoringen, til stor morskab for de næsten 18.000 tilskuere. 17.688 var rekord i denne sæson.
I slutfasen, blev supersub Chaplin sat på banen, men den unge angriber fik ikke rigtig nogen chancer.
Et 0-0 gav et point og var samtidig 6.gang Pompey spillede just 0-0. Pudsigt nok, er 4 af 0-0 kampene mod de hold der ligger nr.11-14 i ligaen, og da Crawley som er næste modstander just er placeret i dette felt, ja så ligner det 0-0.
Ser vi lidt på Pompeys kampprogram, så ser det interessant ud, Pompey mangler ude 8 af de 9 nederst placerede i rækken, og at vi omvendt har mange af topholdene hjemme.
Men det afgørende for Pompey er, der skal vindes kampe, uafgjorte er ikke nok. Der er nu 4 point til 3.pladsen, men ligeså med 4 point ned til pladsen uden for play off.
Skal kampen huskes for noget specielt, ja så var det at Pompey manager Paul Cook til kampen stod i en T-shirt til kampen, så lunt var det på sydkysten anden juledag.
Pompey manager Paul Cook:
“We created enough chances to win the game – especially in the first half – and never looked like conceding.
“It was a very good performance, but we just couldn’t nick a goal and that’s the way football is at times.
“We’ve got lads like Kyle Bennett in great form at the moment and on another day he would have scored.
“I respect that our supporters might have gone home feeling a bit disappointed – but there are 22 games to go.
“There are plenty of points still to play for and if our lads maintain their work ethic then we’ll be where everyone wants come the end of the season.
“I thought that Adam Barton and Matt Clarke were excellent at the back and there was no real danger of us conceding. Luton never had a spell when we were on the back foot.
“If we want to go up automatically then we have to put a run together and Saturday is a big game for us.
“But if we’d have won then it wouldn’t mean we were promoted, so we won’t get carried away with a draw. We’ll keep a level head and stay patient.”
Luton Caretake manager Andy Awford:
«We weren’t negative, we weren’t settled for a point. I came here to win but we certainly came here not to lose. We’ve achieved that goal,» Awford said.
«You’ve got to grind results out sometimes. All the best teams do that. When they’re not playing so well they grind results out and take a point away from home. We were hoping we might be able to nick it on the counter.»
«As an opposition, I thought the lads stood up to it really well. They showed bags of character, bags of resilience and they fully deserved their point today. It was a good point.»
«I thought the whole back four were outstanding today. I thought they deserved their clean sheet with Mark Tyler,»
«We’re all professional, we all know the law of the jungle. It wasn’t just another game for me. It’s a different squad that Paul [Cook – Portsmouth boss] has got there, it’s a different staff, so it’s not me players there anymore, so it’s totally different.
«If I’d have only left a couple of weeks ago it would have been a bit different but there’s been a lot of time gone on and I wish them well, it’s a fantastic club, is Portsmouth.»
Kommentarer fra The News:
Over the past few days our fans have been very complimentary about opposition team keepers yet we have Murphy, this is about the only position I personally think that we need to improve. Tollit, Chaplin should of been on earlier as everyone has already mentioned there pace would of really unsettled a by then tired defence. On current form Plymouth will go up L2 champs with Northampton it’s the 3rd spot we need but if our lack of points at home continues then I should imagine it’s the lottery of the playoffs.
I agree with most of what PFC says and certainly if Jack is fit enough to even play 60 mins against Crawley he should start. We are a good team, streets ahead of last season and we play good football, but if we are still clocking up draws rather than wins at home after the half way point in the season then it isn’t likely to suddenly ‘click’ and be OK – so something needs to change. We certainly need to look at our poor conversion rate on corners and set pieces, plus we need to spread the goals around more – Doyle and Hollands haven’t scored yet and the entire defence has only managed two goals between them in the league. I’d definitely keep Doyle but try Close, Barton or Atangana instead of Hollands.
One further point, if young Jack is fit then it’s time to play him… As I said below Barton did okay but against superior opposition he will struggle. Unless Cooky draft someone in urgently Jack needs to be in the starting 11 on Saturday… Hollands needs to be rested and Close or Nigel should come in… Let’s up our game in Saturday as like last year in front of a similarly large expectant crowd the players didn’t do themselves justice!
I’m sure many fans had at least one mince pie too many but it looked like the players had enjoyed the Christmas festivities a little too much also…
Cooky has put together a good team, a good league 2 team, but we need to be the best team in league 2 and want to be the best…
In the first half at least Luton gave us respect stood back and let us attack them… Our lads had space and time on the ball but there were again to many passes and not enough penetration…. We should have put the game to bed in the first half against very poor opponents…. I had the feeling that the lads thought they’d walk it and that the goal would eventually come…
Fresh legs were needed sooner and this is when Cooky should have yhrown the lads with legs on… They’ve just done the business recently so we know they can do it…. Tollitt, Chaplin and McGurk should have been introduced and all introduced with more minutes in order to give them time to make an impact…. As usual this season too many minutes were lost by passing the ball back to Murphy. The keeper is indecisive and needs to boot the ball long when their central defenders are running back from attacking positions… Even at the end of the game he took far too long to realise the ball. A quick drop quick was needed on a number of occasions for the likes of Chaplin to latch onto… Instead he throws it out to one of our backs or chooses to put the ball on the deck to boot it up… Sort this out PC as these are basics that the keeper isn’t getting right… Barton coped okay against a poor side although he got caught for pace on one occasion. Against a better side we would’ve gone one down on that occasion…
So as we enter the new year we have to ask the question, do the players want to be the best team in this league or just a good one??! At this rate we will struggle to reach the play-offs as 3 teams can now go above us if they win their games in hand… Plymouth and the others above us are now starting to pull away and we need to show the desire and ruthlessness to get us out of this league… We need to have our eye on the prize and want it….. We want to go up as champions but do all of the players want this? Show us you do cos I can’t see they want it at the moment…
League Two, Fratton Park, 28/12-2015
Portsmouth-Luton 0-0
Pompey (4-2-3-1): Murphy; Davies, Barton, Clarke, Stevens; Hollands, Doyle (c); Evans, McNulty (McGurk 77), Bennett (Chaplin 87); Lavery (Roberts 64)
Gult kort: Doyle
Bænken: Bass, Close, Tollitt, Stockley, McGurk, Chaplin, Roberts
Tilskuere: 17,668 (1,556 away fans)