Tidligt exit i ligacuppen.
Der blev ikke nogen lang rejse i Carabao Cuppen denne sæson da vi allerede i første runde tabte med 1-2 til Reading trods fordel af hjemmebane.
Hele ti ændringer i startelleveren fra lørdagens kamp mod Oxford blev det til. De skal ikke alle nævnes her, men det betød start debut til både Luke Le Roux, Márk Kosznovszky, Ibane Bowat og Min-hyeok Yang. På bænken sad fire akademispillere. Af dem var det kun Olutayo Singerr, der fik spilleti, men den chance greb han til gengæld og scorede vores reduceringsmål inde i tillægstiden.
Den officielle kamprapport
https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/2025/august/12/match-report–pompey-v-reading/
Carabao Cuppens 1. runde, Fratton Park, 12. august 2025
Portsmouth – Reading 1-2 (0-2)
34. minut: 0-1 Andre Garcia
38. minut: 0-2 Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan
90. minut: 1-2 Olutayo Singerr
Opstillingen (4-2-3-1): Killip; Swanson, Matthews, Bowat (Poole ’61), Farrell; Le Roux (Segečić ’70), Swift (anfører) (Dozzell ’46); Devlin, Kosznovszky (Singerr ’70), Minhyeok; Waddingham (Bianchini ’61)
På bænken: Archer, Ani, Thomas, Chioma, Poole, Segecic, Dozzell, Singerr og Bianchini
Advarsler: Le Roux og Poole
Udvisning: Ingen
Tilskuere: 14.525 – heraf 1.040 medrejsende Royals supportere
Eftertanken
Nederlaget var på mange måder en forspildt mulighed – ikke kun for at nå langt i turneringen og måske med lidt held tjene lidt TV-penge på turneringen. Det var også her at marginalspillerne kunne få lidt tiltrængt spilletid, og akademispillerne snuse til førsteholdet i fraværet af EHL Trophy. Dernæst så vi desværre, at flere spillere ikke greb chancen da de fik den, og for nogle går der måske et par kampe inden muligheden kommer igen. Og ja, vi kan nu fokusere udelukkende på ligaen de næste måneder, men det havde været dejligt med et afbræk i ny og næ fra The Championship ud over de i efteråret tre indlagte landskampspauser. For kampen på lørdag mod Norwich betyder nederlaget velsagtens, at Mousinho går med det sikre – altså genvalg til de elleve mod Oxford, for ud over Singerr var der ikke for alvor andre der bød sig til, og det er som sagt nok den største skuffelse.
Kommentarer fra head coach John Mousinho
“It was a poor performance and obviously a poor result to go with it – we got what we deserved. There just wasn’t enough from us and that’s really disappointing. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb. We made a lot of changes, but I look at the 11 players that I put out and still expect a lot more from them. I thought we went under after conceding the first goal and that’s unacceptable. Heads dropped and we could have fallen even further behind. We want to have selection headaches going into the weekend and it was a chance for some guys to show what they’re capable of. There were some bright moments from Luke Le Roux and Márk Kosznovszky on their debuts and it was nice to see Ibane Bowat get through 60 minutes after such a long time out. The best moment of the night from our perspective, though, was seeing Tayo score on his debut. It’s pleasing to watch him make such an impact. We shouldn’t let the disappointment of going out of the cup sour what was a really special moment for him.”
Et par ord fra Ibane Bowat
“It felt great to get 60 minutes out on the pitch at Fratton Park – that’s another real milestone for me. The result was obviously a disappointment, but it did feel like a personal achievement to make my Pompey debut. I’ve had to wait a long time for it, so finally being able to play in front of the fans was such a special feeling. The past year has been tough – both mentally and physically – but I’ve had such a good support unit at Pompey. Everyone was looking out for me and although it’s not been an easy road, I’m just happy to now be back fit. I used pre-season to build confidence and learn to trust my body again. I felt good out there, which is a relief. Now I want to move onwards and upwards – I’m eager to get into the side again, but I’ll have to work for that. It’s going to be tough because we saw at Oxford how good the team is. I just have to be ready for when the manager needs me.”
Interview efter kampen med John Mousinho