Pompey satte rekord med færrest tilskuere i en kamp efter 2.verdenskrig, i #BteamfanBoycot aktionen.

Rekorden blev sat.

I hvert fald i perioden efter 2.verdenskrig. 1.355 tilskuere mødte op og så Pompey hjemme på Fratton spille mod Reading U23. En kamp der endte 2-2, og hvor reglerne siger at ender kampen uafgjort efter ordinær spilletid, er der straffesparkskonkurrence, hvor vinderen får et ekstra point.

Pompey havde som forventet mange ændringer i alt faktisk hele 10 styks. Kun Matt Clarke var genganger.

Men Pompey stillede dog med en del spillere der er inde omkring start XI, således var Smith, Bennet, Lalkovic at finde med fra start og for Jack Whatmough var han igen at finde på banen, og som en af de unge spillere har i truppen, så er det sådanne kampe der er vigtige for dem. Så en turnering er vigtig, men formatet med B hold, det giver ikke mening.

Paul Cook havde ligeså interessant nok valgt at spille 4-4-2 med Smith og Main oppe foran. Smith lavede alle tre mål i 3-4 nederlaget i den første puljekamp.

Som en på twitter kommenterede på kampen, jo der er da 5 englændere på banen fra Reading. Pointen med B hold var at de unge engelske spillere skulle have mere spilletid!

Pompey måtte se sig bagud 0-1 kort efter start. Keeper Liam O’Brien kom ellers racende ud af målet, men bolden blev spillet hen til Novakovich fra Mendes. Det var så en fransk spiller der satte en amerikaner op!

Pompey kom som sådan tilbage i kampen og havde tilløb til chancerne, men Reading var gode til at holde fast i bolden og Pompey måtte gå til pausen bagud 0-1 og deres finske keeper, ja han blev ikke reelt testet

Da gæsterne så kom på 0-2, så var de få fans på Fratton Park nok ved at tænke om de ikke bare skulle smutte hjem, da Curtis Main gjorde sit. Målet kom efter et straffe hvor der blev dømt hånd på bolden.

2 scoringer fra angriberen, der ikke har fået så meget spilletid, gjorde at med små 30 min igen, så havde Pompey bragt balance i stillingen. Main fik dog ikke mulighed for at lave hattrick da han kort efter udligningen blev udskiftet.

Begge hold havde gode muligheder for at afgøre kampen, største kom i overtiden til gæsterne men Liam O’Briensnuppede det forsøg.

Så skulle kampen ud i straffe, for at afgøre hvem der skulle have et bonuspoint, og den mest frustrerede spiller efter kampen må have været vores keeper Liam O’Brien. Hele 3 straffe redder han, hvilket er rimelig skarpt.

Men hvad hjalp det når den finske keeper snuppede 4 stykker. Dermed endte straffe med 3-4 til gæsterne efter 14 spark! Noget usædvanligt

Skal det med at den tidligere rekord for færrest tilskuere kom i den mærkelige turnering anglo-Italian cup tilbage i 1983 i august måned.

Kommentar fra Pompey keeper Liam O’Brien

‘I have to be happy with the performance in the penalty shootout. ‘The saves were full length and pleasing but ultimately I let two goals in. Maybe they weren’t my fault, but, as a keeper you don’t want to be letting any in. ‘I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win but I’m happy with my performance and I did what I could. That’s all you could ask. ‘These games are great for lads who are trying to get games and minutes under my belt. For me it’s 90 minutes. ‘They’re great. I’m trying to think of the last time I played at Fratton Park. I think it was Manchester City in a youth cup game. ‘It was a long time ago, so I really was looking forward to it and enjoyed it. It’s a great place to play, I just wanted to win.’

Pompey coach Ian Foster

‘It almost felt like it is before the game when the players have their warm-up. ‘There’s an empty stadium with a few thousand in already and you get that atmosphere when the lads come out – but it just wasn’t there last night. ‘In fairness, the fans got behind us in the second half and made a lot of noise, which was great. ‘What can you do, it’s the situation. The fans don’t have a great feel for the Checkatrade Trophy as a competition and that’s not just in Portsmouth, that’s throughout the country. ‘It’s a shame because a lot of people missed out on a very good game. ‘You don’t want to have a crowd of 1,355 in your record books for a first-team game, but the people who turned up did smashing for the players. ‘It was a smashing game, I really enjoyed it. High tempo, loads of chances, really good play from both teams, both teams trying to play in the right manner – it was an exciting game of football. ‘I didn’t think we ever felt we should have been 2-0 down and showed great character to get back into the game. ‘With 30 minutes to go we were in the ascendancy and I genuinely thought there was only one team in it.’

Kommentarer fra The News:

I was at the game and it was a good run out for most of our players that haven’t had the opportunity to play this season! For those who say they were much better than us must be blind! Both teams had their good and bad parts of play, so total even Stevens! Also you must remember they play week in week out together so they are getting much more game time!

Well whilst I understand the boycot it’s a shame that many many people missed an interesting (and historic) match. Anyway what I learnt was ‘hasn’t our standard of players fallen’. Reading were faster, much more tactically aware and had Connor like abilities by the dozen. Would happily swap a large number of their players for ours. Shame really but a very useful reminder to me that there is a huge mountain to climb back to the Championship.

I’m very proud of that attendance last night. It shows that the majority of Pompey fans have principles and will stand up for their team and indeed football in general. Until the U21/23s are booted out I’ll continue to boycott.

That’s the first home game I’ve missed in 30 years. Am I bothered? No.

A penalty shoot out to decide a game that you get a point for losing in a competition for lower league clubs that has premier league teams in it. We’ve lost twice now but still we’re stuck in this pile of cr@p competition, it’s harder to get knocked out of the stupid thing than it is to win it. Now on to this weekends defeat at Orient, wonder how many goals we’ll hand them on Saturday, my guess is three. Shame the league isn’t like this cup then we could still get a point out of it.

EFL Trophy group game, Fratton Park, 4/10-2016

Portsmouth – Reading 3-4, 2-2 efter ordinær spilletid (0-1)

6 min 0-1 Andrija Novakovich

52 min 0-2 Joseph Mendes (str)

57 min 1-2 Curtis Main

63 min 2-2 Curtis Main 

Straffesparkkonkurransen:

1-0 Michael Smith.

1-1 Joseph Mendes

2-1 Kal Naismith

2-2 Tyler Blackett

Kyle Bennet brænder

2-3 Liam Kelly

Milan Lalkovic brænder

Dominic Samuel brænder

3-3 Gareth Evans

Shane Griffin Brænder

Adam May brænder

Tennai Watson Brænder

Jack Whatmough brænder

3-4 Tyler Frost

Portsmouth (4-4-2): O’Brien; Buxton (Evans 44), Whatmough, Clarke, Haunstrup; Lalkovic, Linganzi, Close (May 73), Bennett (C); Main (Naismith 69), Smith

Bænken: Hall, T Davies, Oxlade-Chamberlain, May, Evans, Naismith

Tilskuere: 1.355 (133 away fans)