Keep moving, you gotta keep moving. Målene må snart komme for Pompey.

AV: Steen Houman

Det er titlen på en gammel Madness sang (Keep Moving) fra deres sidste plade inden Madness blev opløst dengang. Titlen rammer meget godt på Pompey, for holdet må for pokker da snart få hul på bylden. For gameplan virker jo fint, i alle kampene, ja der er det Pompey der skaber chancerne og det er Pompey som har bolden mest. Undtaget lige første halvleg her!

Om tallene er rigtige, ja det ved jeg ikke men stats efter første halvleg sagde at hjemmeholdet Exeter havde bolden hele 88% af tiden!

Men Pompey havde flest afslutninger, imponerende hvis vi blot havde bolden i cirka 5½ min.

Pompeys problemer blev udstillet mod Exeter som startede op med en 3-4-3 opstilling som siden blev ændret til 4-4-2 efter en skade.

Afslutninger

Pompey i alt 18 afslutninger, men blot 2 på kassen.

Men det kniber voldsomt med at score mål, 5 mål har vi scoret, hvor 2 af dem har været på straffe. Så 3 scoringer har vi præsteret i 5 kampe! Eller 5 i alt med de 2 straffe, og det er ikke nok til oprykning. Men omvendt står vi tæt i forsvaret, og Pompey har med 3 scoringer imod sig, League Two bedste forsvar. Det kan være det er nøglen til succes og oprykning.

Samtidig kan vi ironisere over at hvor vi i sidste sæson lidt for mange gange oplevede at modstanderne scorede mod os i slutfasen, ja så er det nu lige omvendt, med Pompey der scorer i slutfasen, men at vi fans er bekymrede over at skulle vente så længe med målene i kampene.

For læser vi kampreferat fra Exeter kampen, ja så er det fortællingen med Pompey i kontrol og med Pompey der skaber de bedste muligeder.

Men den store chance var der ikke for Pompey, omvendt havde Exeter ej heller den store mulighed.

Efter pauseteen, ja der var billedet meget det samme. Pompey der til kampen havde ændret på to pladser med Lalkovic til at starte i stedet for Bennett, og Davies i forsvaret i stedet for Barton, ja det kneb fortsat med at komme igennem Exeter der spillede klogt.

Pompey skiftede ud i løbet af anden halvleg og her blev både Chaplin og overraskende Naismith skiftet ind. Det blev sidstnævnte der er sat på transferlisten, der blev helten og skurken var Exeters højreback.

Eller måske rettere dommeren, for når situationen bliver vist på youtube, ja så er det nok et straffe der mere bliver dømt til et hjemmehold end et udehold. Det var ikke verdens største straffe, og Exeters spillere fik også et par gule kort i forbindelse med forseelsen.

Ingen mål imod

Pompey holdt ud mod slut, omend Exeter havde en pæn stor chance som blev reddet, og ja Forde var på kassen, selvom han var udtaget til Irlands trup. Men regler gør at vores irske 3. keeper kunne spille for os.

Nu skal Keep Moving gælde med spillet og søge chancerne. Pompey ligger trods alt nummer 8, men vi har endnu ikke fået svaret på hvem der skal være vores angriber!

Exeter manager Paul Tisdale:

«I was surprised with the decision and I think they were surprised with it.

«It seemed to be something from nothing and I’ll be surprised if I change my mind on the video.

«It was a very harsh decision.

«To get that far, the players did so well to get to that point, so it was just galling.»

«I don’t very often say it but I thought we were unlucky to lose – to put that much effort in and get that far and to then lose a penalty to such a weak decision.

«We spent a lot of time working on something and then Jordan Tillson got injured early, so we had to change it.

«It’s a tough ask when you’re starting the game against Portsmouth with possibly your entire frontline and entire backline out injured. We’re starting from a long way behind anyway but I was really impressed with the effort the players put in and the way they stuck to it.

«We’re not having the best of times with our availability at the moment, so Jordan Tillson going off after 20 minutes certainly wasn’t handy.

«We started with Lee Homes, David Wheeler and Robbie Simpson missing from the frontline and then Craig Woodman, Troy Archibald-Henville, Jordan Moore-Taylor and Tom McCready missing from the backline, so it was a big ask on those players but I thought they stuck to it really well.

«We worked on something and within 20 minutes we had to change it, because I just hadn’t got a replacement for Jordan Tillson in that position for how we were hoping to play the game.

«We had to change it and change it again at half-time and the players worked hard on it, so I’m very proud of them.»

Pompey assistant manager Leam Richardson:

‘You look at the way the lads defended in the last five minutes and put their bodies on the line, when you do that I think you deserve the three points.

‘You make your own luck. It was a talking point last year but this year when we have deserved a bit of luck and deserved decisions we are getting them at the minute. ‘We will continue to work hard on the training ground and on the pitch. ‘We have a good squad, everybody in our squad can play, we expect to travel in good numbers and we expect a certain level of performance from lads.’ ‘I’ve worked with the gaffer for years and he is top class. ‘He was constantly in my ears from the stand with information on to the pitch. ‘He does see a very good game from there and thankfully we have gone away from home and won.’

Kommentarer fra The News:

Maybe if you all stopped moaning about every single thing they do the players may be able to relax a bit and regain some confidence. Instead of going into a hissy fit everytime someone try’s something you don’t like try giving them some encouragement. Everyone who has ever played the game at any level understands that trying to break down teams that don’t want to play is nigh on impossible.

People need to have a little more faith in Cook. You don’t gain promotion and get into the play-offs the following season by accident. Yes, it can be frustrating when we play possession football and don’t create any meaningful chances, but the players will be getting used to the system a little bit more each week, bare in mind we do have a lot of new players… Hopefully they’ll be doing some shooting practice each week too and it’ll take time for the the team to become a really effective unit but once they do, we’ll no doubt go on a good run. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if we win 1-0 or 5-0, it’s still 3 points. And the booing at the end of the Carlisle game was frankly embarrassing. As for Chaplin, the amount of pressure being placed on a 19 year old is frankly ridiculous. Some people seem to insinuate that if he started every game, we’d be tearing up the league… but because someone is an effective substitute, doesn’t mean at this stage in their career, they’d be as effective starting. As long as he’s given a good half an hour, and tbf to Cook he is giving him more time nowadays.

recent changes by Cook seems that he is bringing 2 up front earlier in the game c/o wins v exeter and colchester. lack of goals and few clear opportunities seems fans main concern. I agree a win is a win but its fair to say things can improve. Pointless sacking Cook and he definitely gets to end of season for me and then review. It will be very interesting to see how he starts home v crawley. I think the 1 up is a good away system but Hunt and Chaplin together at home would offer more threat at home and should be tried. Can always switch to 1 up once in front to protect a lead. That would seem a decent overall strategy which I think Cook is integrating. The ability to play 2 systems confidently takes time and the patterns becoming notable. God luck boys, good win and lets see it get better and better PUPPPU

Well then ‘slowly slowly’ does it. Yes I agree it’s been a faltering start to the season but we are 8th and can surely only get better than we are playing at the moment. Just think how Carl N feels, still transfer listed, but he frequently does make a difference. Two home games to come, time to continue to refine the team and game plan, and pocket some more points. If we can win these two then we will be well up there. Hopefully we can be entertained as well. In short ‘keep the faith’

I must thank cookie for curing my insomnia. I must have been dreaming yesterday although the same thing happens at Fratton. My dream consists of watching Pompey in possession on a seesaw pitch resulting in the ball going side to side between defenders with no end result. After last season I was thinking of trading my season ticket in (not really) against the cost of all away games as they seemed to be the most exciting. However I am glad I didn’t as the away fare this season especially yesterday has been poor. The lack of vocal support from us was telling it took Roberts to stand in front of us to try and raise some support. What Cookie needs to realise is that to be successful in this game the need is to put the ball into the net. I felt sorry for Main yesterday he received appalling service something which has likely cost Smith his confidence. 4-2-3-1 doesn’t belong in League 2 if you insist on using it you need midfield players who can pass accurately something that is glaringly missing.

League Two, St. James Park

Exeter – Portsmouth 0-1 (0-0)

85. min. 0-1 Gary Roberts (pen)

Pompey: Forde; Talbot, T.Davies, Burgess, Stevens; Rose, Doyle (c); Baker (Chaplin 64), Roberts, Lalkovic (Naismith 74); Main (Hunt 74)

Bænken: O’Brien, Barton, Linganzi, Evans, Naismith, Chaplin, Hunt

Tilskuere: 4512 (1.215 Pompeyfans)