Pompeys akademilag gjør det bra i serien, men i cupene er det nå over og ut.

AKADEMIET: Som det ofte gjør med unge spillere, går det opp og ned med Pompeys akademi. Både i form av prestasjoner og resultater. Her er en oppsummering av hvordan det har gått med Pompeys akademi de siste ukene.

LES OGSÅ: 3. plass etter seks serierunder

Etter vår sak om at Pompeys akademi lå på 3. plass etter seks serierunder, fulgte akademiet opp med å slå Swindon 2-1 på hjemmebane. Swindon var da serieleder og Pompey tok ledelsen 2-0 etter scoringer av Sam Folarin og Connor May. Swindon reduserte én gang, men det holdt ikke for serielederen.

Trener Sam Hudson sa følgende etter kampen: «It was a pretty solid performance against a side that were sitting at the top of the league and with just one defeat to their name. The start was a bit slow in terms of our pressing, but once we’d committed to that and the intensity was lifted, we found a way into the game.»

Pompey: Smith; Quarm, Howard, Bosaka, Mullins; Aston; Staight (Ayres 77), Murray (Buckland 68); Keteku; Folarin (Whitelock 57), May

Utslått av FA Youth Cup

Allerede i 1. runde av FA Youth Cup var det stopp for Pompey denne sesongen. Eastleigh på bortebane burde vært overkommelig, men i øsende regnvær hjalp det lite at Pompey dominerte spillemessig.

Eastleigh scoret to mål og da hjalp det lite at Maxwell Hirst reduserte på overtid. Dermed 2-1 til Eastleigh og Pompey er ute av FA Youth Cup.

Pompey (4-1-2-1-2): Smith; Quarm, Bosaka, Fox (c), Laidlaw; Aston; Mottoh, Keteku (May 54); Murray; Hurst, Folarin

Sam Hudson: “It’s extremely disappointing to be knocked out in the first round. For the majority of the game, we were second best in a lot of areas and that’s what is particularly frustrating.

We were quite careless with the ball and inaccurate in our passing. There wasn’t too much rhythm and our positioning wasn’t great. They were getting in the way of each other at times and some of the basics of movement just weren’t there.

Sterk borteseier

Pompey slo tilbake da de i sin neste kamp vant hele 3-0 borte mot Bristol Rovers. Zac Whitelock 2 og Koby Mottoh scoret Pompeys mål.

Pompey: Glover; Quarm (Ayres 79), Bosaka, Buckland (Sizer 88), Mullins; Aston; Mottoh, Staight (Keteku 61); Murray; Folarin, Whitelock (Hurst 72)

Sam Hudson: «It was a pretty convincing performance overall and it helped that we took the lead in the very first minute. We made the best start possible and then the rest of the game was as much about battling the conditions than the opposition.

It wasn’t the kind of environment where you were going to enjoy long spells with the ball and we had pick the right moments to press and know when to sit back and duel. But we soon settled into the game and the only chances our opponents created were from the odd individual error from us»

Målrikt mot Exeter

I neste serierunde skulle Pompey møte Exeter borte. Mitch Aston ga Pompey ledelsen på et frispark.

Exeter kom tilbake og ledet 3-1, men to scoringer fra Pompey sørget for at det endte 3-3. Målene til Pompey ble scoret av Luke Staight og Sam Folarin.

Pompey: Smith; Quarm, Howard (Sizer 39), Buckland, Mullins; Aston; Staight, Keteku (May 62); Murray; Folarin, Whitelock (Hurst 46)

Sam Hudson: «Ultimately, it was a fantastic first half followed by a sloppy period that saw us undo all that hard work and quality. We’ve come from behind on a number of times this season, though, and that shows a real strength of character. We just don’t want to put ourselves in that position in the first place.”

Tapte på straffer

I åttedelsfinalen i Hampshire Cup stilte Pompey uten noen spillere på profesjonell kontrakt i oppgjøret borte mot Folland Sports.

Hjemmelaget ledet 1-0, men på overtid utlignet Pompeys innbytter Harry Clout. I straffesparkkonkuransen bommet May på Pompeys første straffe. Aston, Clout, Luke Staight og Jack Fox scoret på sine, men ettersom Folland Sports scoret på alle fem var Pompey ute.

Pompey (4-1-2-1-2): Glover (Smith 90+6); Quarm, Bosaka (Howard 46), Fox (c), Mullins; Aston; Murray, Staight; Keteku (Clout 71); Hurst, May

Sam Hudson: It’s obviously disappointing to get knocked out of the cup and it was always going to be decided by fine margins. Neither side offered much quality and although we had a lot of the ball, we didn’t really hurt them at all.

We made life harder for ourselves by playing at a slower tempo and our touches in the final third were poor. I was also disappointed with our duelling and we didn’t lay a glove on them, which isn’t what we want to see from a Pompey team.»

Tapte toppoppgjøret

Pompey kunne overtatt som serieleder i gårsdagens kamp mot Plymouth, og Pompey tok da også ledelsen 1-0 ved Koby Mottoh. Samme mann økte til 2-0 og Pompey storspilte.

Plymouth reduserte før pause, og scoret så to sene mål slik at de fikk snudd kampen og økt ledelsen på tabellen til fem poeng (se tabell nederst i artikkelen). Pompey er på 2. plass, men Swindon som er to poeng bak har hele tre kamper til gode.

Pompey: Smith; Quarm, Buckland, Fox, Laidlaw; Aston; Murray, Staight; Keteku; Mottoh, Whitelock (Clout 45)

Sam Hudson: “We played really well for a lot of the game and it was an incredibly strong team performance. The opening 15 minutes if one of the best periods I’ve seen in my time at the club – it was dominant in all areas against good opposition. We were just missing a goal, but Koby then cut inside and put the ball in the top corner with his left foot. It was a lovely individual strike. We’d worked on that with him on Friday and so to take that instantly into a game was particularly pleasing.

Plymouth had a decent spell late in the half, but didn’t really look like scoring. Our duelling and pressing were excellent. Zac Whitelock unfortunately had to go off injured just before the break, so we didn’t really have a centre-forward. But Harry put a delicate ball in behind for Koby to head over the keeper. They were both playing out of position, but combining well.

We conceded cheaply from a free-kick almost straight away, though, and that swung the momentum back in Plymouth’s favour. They then scored again from a corner and, after playing well for 80 minutes, it was so disappointing to be level again because of a couple of set-pieces. So it summed things up when a couple of our guys get in each other’s way a bit, there’s a bobbling ball and it lands nicely for their guy to score with the last kick of the game.

Plymouth had three proper moments in our box and were very clinical to take them to end up with all three points. It’s been a bit of a feature for us that we’ve played well, but not come away with the result. Learning to win is just as important as anything else.

Connor May.