Uskarpe Pompey videre uden at imponere.
Med 1-0 over Harrow Borough er vi klar til FA Cuppens anden runde efter en sejr, som reelt burde have været større, og som understregede nogle af de opgaver der fortsat venter på at blive løst af Cowley managerteamet.
To nye ansigter var at finde blandt de startende elleve siden 1-1 pointdelingen mod Cheltenham tirsdag aften. I front fik Miguel Azeez chancen på bekostning af Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, men der på midten af banen blev plads til Shaun Williams i stedet for Louis Thompson. Dermed var det ikke en decideret reservepræget opstilling der mødte amatørerne fra Harrow foran det lidt skuffende fremmøde på under 7.000 supportere.
Den officielle kamprapport
Eftertanken
1-0 og videre. Så vidt så godt, men at vi ikke kan overbevise mere mod en modstander, der til daglig spiller fire niveauer under os siger desværre lidt om de opgaver som vi står over for. Det er simpelthen for ofte at offensiven ikke fungerer. I League One har det indtil videre givet udtryk i 19 mål i 16 kampe, og den samme mangel på kynisme og gennembrudskraft i front så vi altså mod Harrow. Igen er det oplagt at hive Sunderland-kampen frem som eksemplet, hvor alting klikkede, og som viste hvad der er muligt med truppen. Efterfølgende har det dog vist sig at være en enlig svale, for i de fem ligakampe siden da har vi scoret lige præcis ét mål pr. kamp. Det samme var altså tilfældet i går. Så hvad skal der til for at vi bliver farligere foran mål? En offensiv playmaker? En mentalcoach? Et nyt system? Én ting er sikkert. Cowley-brødrene bliver nødt til at finde nøglen til et mere potent angreb før sæsonen løber ud i sandet.
Kommentarer fra manager Danny Cowley
“We’re pleased to win the game, we’re pleased to keep a clean sheet and we’re pleased to be in the next round. But we must play better than that. In the first half we got into some really positive areas and our use of the ball was good, although the decision making and execution was lacking a bit. But I didn’t like us after the break. I didn’t like the energy, the intensity or the purpose. I won’t come out and lie. I told the players what I think. Our standards have to be much, much higher than that if we want to achieve anything this season. When there’s something I see that I don’t like, I’ll front up, look them in the eye and tell them what I think.”
“We knew it would be a difficult game and I want to give massive credit to Steve Baker and his Harrow team – they were a credit to non-league football. I reminded our players what a privilege it is to be a professional player and doing something they love every day. Those in the Harrow side would love to be where we are and so you can never ever take it for granted.”
“We’ve created enough to score four or five goals and it could have made it a lot easier for ourselves by scoring a second. I don’t think we managed the game as well as we could have towards the end and I wanted to see more aggression from us. These games aren’t all about tactics – they’re about application. In the second half I don’t think we showed enough of that.”
Et par ord fra Marcus Harness
“We started the game well, created a lot of chances and could have been four or five goals ahead. We then lost our control midway through the second half, although we’re happy to be through to the next round. It was quite a professional job from us and we weren’t ever in any real danger, even if it wasn’t always pretty. Mahlon found me with the pull-back and that’s where I want them, rather than in the air and on my head. We were looking to build from there and score some goals, but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. You want to be on it 100 per cent for 90 minutes and we just have to keep trying to get as close to perfect as we can. The manager wasn’t very happy with the overall performance, so they’ll dissect the game and we’ll take some learning from it.”
FA Cuppens 1. runde, Fratton Park, 6. november 2021
Portsmouth – Harrow Borough 1-0 (1-0)
28. minut: 1-0 Marcus Harness
Opstillingen (4-2-3-1): Bazunu; Romeo, Raggett, Ogilvie, Brown (anfører); Morrell, Williams (Thompson ‘73); Harness (Hackett ‘83), Azeez (Gassan ‘60), Curtis; Marquis (Jacobs ‘83)
På bænken: Bass, Freeman, Hughes, Jewitt-White, Hirst, Jacobs, Thompson, Gassan og Hackett-Fairchild
Advarsel: Ingen
Udvisning: Ingen
Tilskuere: 6.869 – heraf 499 medrejsende fans af udeholdet
Interview efter kampen med manager Danny Cowley
Kampens Højdepunkter
