2019-20: Fleetwood – Portsmouth 1-0

Blowin’ in the wind

Bob Dylans ikoniske sang fra 1962 skulle vise sig gældende på mange måder, for i omkvædet lyder det

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

For hvor står Pompey med oprykningsdrømmene efter dagens nederlag, er tanken ved at være tom?

Det blæste en hård vind ind over banen og de første 10-12 min af kampen var ikke just kønt at se på, med mange bolde spillet i anden sals højde.

Pompey måtte lave en sen ændring, da Ellis Harrison ikke blev klar, og det gav Oli Hawkins chancen fra start, men han fik intet at arbejde med i kampen.

Det var hjemmeholdet Fleetwood der fik den første chance, da den hurtige kantspiller McKay viste kvalitet på venstrekanten, og efter et par returbolde, kunne Fleetwood heade 1-0 føringen i mål.

Kort efter havde Fleetwood endnu en stor chance, men alene med Alex Bass i Portsmouthmålet, ja der skød Fleetwood forbi.

Pompey havde ikke rigtig vist noget endnu, og et frispark fra venstrekanten fra Curtis skulle blive første gode chance, da hans indlæg tog overliggeren.

Det blev starten til at spillet blev løftet og begge hold fik vist lang bedre spil, og det var med Fleetwood, som der havde tilløb til de største chance.

Pompey havde et indlæg fra venstre der blev sat fladt ind, men bolden blev spillet væk det var første tilløb til en chance!

Da pausen var nået, måtte Pompey der havde spillet i modvind (også spillemæssigt), konstatere at udover Curtis frispark, var der ikke eteneste forsøg på mål og ej heller et hjørnespark.

Ikke just tilfredsstillende.

The News repporter opsummerede det således:

 

Med vinden i ryggen efter pausen, havde Pompey mere bold, og de to første muligheder kom efter 15 min, hvor to indlæg var nær ved at finde en Pompeyspiller i gråt. Muligheden kom efter Pompey havde skiftet ud, da Bolton og Hawkins gik ud.

Kenny Jackett har i de seneste kampe haft succes med gode indskiftninger. Hjemmeholdet var dog farlige på omstillinger og Alex Bass måtte redde et par gange.

Fleetwood arbejdede stenhårdt og der var ikke megen tid på bolden for Pompey.

Der skulle gå 71 min inden Portsmouth fik første hjørnespark. Det skabte problemer for Fleetwood men ingen mål, og på næste hjørnespark kort efter, ja der fik Ragget headet, men måtte se forsøget reddet på stregen.

Pompey havde løse tilløb til muligheder, men sandt at sige, ja så var Fleetwood der havde større muligheder for at score til 2-0.

I overtiden, ja der gik de første to min med at spillerne skændtes og Fleetwood dygtigt trak tiden.

Resultatet, ja det betød at Fleetwood kom op på play off pladserne mens Pompey røg ned om nummer syv!

Det lå nærmest i kortene at første mål der blev scoret, ville afgøre kampen, og med 1-0 til Fleetwood, blev det således.

Om end Ronan Curtis havde et frisaprk der lige gik lige forbi i 6 mins overtid.

 

Kommentarer fra Twitter

I think I just need to accept that we are a bad to watch, mid table league 1 side who will have the odd decent result, without being pleasing on the eye. At least we have a day out to Wembley . Still frustrating though.

My word that was dreadful. #Pompey got exactly what they deserved. Poor defending and keeping for the goal. Hardly created a thing all game. Another poor away performance. Improvements on the road needed if we have aspirations of finishing in the top 6 come May.

#pompey under Jackett will never go up. He plays a stronger side v Exeter kids in worthless trophy that is unimportant. I’m beginning to think they wanted to get there as they don’t want us going up again and have to spend some money.

Ive said it before and I’ll say it again if we win the EFL trophy and fail to go up winning it back to back without promotion is not a stat you want promotion is what we should be going for first and foremost and we still can but appears EFL will be our season

That was awful to listen to, let alone witness. My sympathy to all who travelled #pompey

Poor performance was due with the fixture pile up and in the conditions. But no subs Kenny? FFS. Bad weekend to lose too looking at results. MK Dons and Rochdale at home are must wins. #Pompey

Not one shot on target in 90 minutes is embarrassing. Today’s performance showed how important Harrison is to us. #Pompey

Every team above us won today as well

luckily we have three games in hand to get us back on track. MK Dons on Tuesday is a must win to get #Pompey back into the play-offs

Can’t expect to go up with our away form. #pompey

Just awful overall. No attacking nous and drawn into a niggly battle that always favoured the hosts. Results went against Pompey today and the away games don’t get any easier. The away form will prevent Pompey finishing in the top two.

dissapointing/frustrating. Should have started with the same 11 we finished with. Bass needs to do better on their goal. Oh well still a match in hand on a lot of the teams around us. Up the blues

 

Fleetwood manager Joey Barton

“The lads have given me and the coaching staff everything since day one. The players are feeding off the energy inside the stadium and it now looks like the whole town are believing.

“George had his shirt off getting the fans at it and with the drums going and Wayne Bibby doing his bit by getting the fans going in the Parkside, and it just goes to show that there is a real unity in the club and also on and off the pitch.

“We were walking around the town last night, and everyone we saw was excited for the match and with this, the players will feel it. The staff are feeling the buzz too and on the pitch, you can see the players using that. We must continue with the great energy around the club and keep the belief going, because for us to beat Portsmouth, it makes me so proud!”

“I thought we were excellent in all areas today, especially given the conditions and I thought it was slightly winder than last week and we did think the game could be called off. We were desperate for the game to be on as we knew we had a chance to beat them.

“The pitch today probably suited Portsmouth rather than us as they sometimes play for the second balls and are built for the physical encounter and if you said you wanted a contest on it, it would be massively in their favour.

“You have the play the conditions and I thought today in the second half, when the wind was blowing into our goal, we handled their physically superbly and tad unfortunate not to add to our goal tally.”

 

Portsmouth manager Kenny Jackett

“We didn’t start particularly well, although were under pressure because that was the way the wind was blowing.

“But I still felt we were a yard off and didn’t defend with our usual sharpness and they deserved their lead at the break because we didn’t do enough.«For all of our huff and puff, we couldn’t find those crucial openings or clear-cut chances to get us back in the game

“Some of our decision making out there wasn’t quite right and we I just didn’t think we looked like our usual selves.

“I was expecting us to come back in the second half when the wind – which did play a part – was with us.

“For all of our huff and puff, though, we couldn’t find those crucial openings or clear-cut chances to get us back in the game.

“The closest we came was from Sean Raggett’s header that beat the keeper, but was cleared off the line.

“Ronan Curtis also had a moment or two in terms of balls across the box, although ultimately we didn’t have those combinations up front to get any goals.

“You have to adapt to the conditions and come through it because you know what you’re going to get when you come up here at this time of year.”

 

Fleetwood – Portsmouth 1-0 (1-0)

12 min 1-0 Connolly 

Pompey (4-2-3-1): Bass; Bolton (McCrorie 56), Burgess, Raggett, Seddon; McGeehan, Naylor (c); Harness, Marquis, Curtis; Hawkins (Williams 56)

Gule kort: Naylor

Bænken: MacGillivray, Whatmough, Haunstrup, Close, Evans, McCrorie, Willams

Tilskuere: 3,370