 |
Portsmouth
v West Bromwich Albion
Fratton Park,
Portsmouth. 4th December 2004, 3.00pm. |
| Back
to Previous Page |
Match
Preview |
 |
 |
| Result |
Portsmouth |
3 - 2 |
West Bromwich Albion |
| Scorers |
Darren Purse (og 35)
Arjan De Zeeuw (85)
Lomana Tresor LuaLua (89) |
Dejan Stefanovic (og 14)
Robert Earnshaw (45) |
| Attendance |
20,110 |
| Teams |
4-4-1-1
30 - Jamie Ashdown (GK)
6 - Arjan De Zeeuw
16 - Andy Griffin
3 - Dejan Stefanovic
14 - Matthew Taylor
4 - David Unsworth
23 - Patrik Berger
15 - Amdy Faye
11 - Nigel Quashie
8 - Steve Stone
19 - Ricardo Fuller |
4-4-1-1
(GK) Russell Hoult - 1
Neil Clement - 19
Bernt Haas - 22
Darren Moore - 5
Darren Purse - 6
Riccardo Scimeca - 2
Jonathan Greening - 8
Andy Johnson - 10
Robert Earnshaw - 34
Zoltan Gera - 11
Nwankwo Kanu - 25 |
| Substitutes |
1 - Shaka Hislop (GK)
18 - Aliou Cisse
2 - Linvoy Primus
10 - Eyal Berkovic
32 - Lomana Tresor LuaLua |
(GK) Tomasz Kuszczak
- 29
Thomas Gaardsoe - 4
Jason Koumas - 7
Artim Sakiri - 20
Rob Hulse - 17 |
| Substitutions |
L Primus for D Unsworth
(26)
L LuaLua for M Taylor (55)
E Berkovic for N Quashie (80) |
T Gaardsoe for B Haas
(66)
A Sakiri for Z Gera (70)
R Hulse for R Earnshaw (77) |
| Yellow Cards |
None |
Darren Moore (43)
Russell Hoult (73) |
| Red Cards |
None |
None |
| Referee |
P Walton (Northampton) |
This report is based
on the extended highlights on Sky's Football First as I was unable
to attend the game.
What a body blow. When it looked like we were about to get a victory
that could kick start our season, it is suddenly turned into a defeat
that leaves us firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. From what
I've seen of the game, I couldn't really say that either side deserved
to win the game. Both were guilty of comedy defending and neither
really had control of the game at any point. But it is Pompey that
have the points, and that's all that matters at the end.
Robson surprised us once again with his selection. With Contra unable
to recover in time, Bernt Haas was recalled to the starting line-up
on the right wing with Koumas returning to the bench. Up front,
Earnie played the front role with Kanu sitting in behind. The other
surprise was that Hulse was preferred to Horsfield on the bench.
The home side had the better of the play early on although there
was little goalmouth incident. Greening had the games first shot
on goal from the edge of the area, a decent volley which edged wide,
before Pompey had a good shout for a penalty turned down when Scimeca
manhandled Matthew Taylor.
Albion took the lead in the 14th minute when Kanu won the ball back
in the centre circle and found a marauding Neil Clement who ran
at the defence twisting and turning before firing a low cross across
the face of goal that Stefanovic could only turn into his own net.
Albion then had their best spell of the match when they passed the
ball around well. Kanu was linking up well with both Earnshaw and
the midfield, Clement was getting forward well and Gera looked good
on the ball. Portsmouth had a few forays forward but Albion looked
comfortable.
But it was all to go to waste when Stefanovic got down the Portsmouth
left and crossed. With no Portsmouth player within ten yards, and
Hoult ready to collect the ball, Purse intercepted and fired the
ball into his own net for the second own goal of the game on 35
minutes.
Pompey were feeling equally generous and some poor defending in
the centre ended up with a ball swinging out towards Matthew Taylor
on the left side of the six yard box. Ashdown came out to collect
but Taylor tried to control the ball but played it perfectly to
Scimeca who squared the ball for Earnie to tap in his fifth goal
in as many games on the stroke of half time.
The second half looked poor. Albion were unable to keep possession
for any length of time, and Portsmouth seemed unable to break the
Albion defence down. They looked more dangerous once LuaLua came
on as he added some pace and trickery to the attack. Occasionally,
Albion were forced into semi-desperate defending, and Earnie and
Kanu linked up well from time to time to offer a threat at the other
end. But it looked as though the game was dead and Albion would
get the points.
But with five minutes to go, an innocuous looking challenge from
Big Dave resulted in a free kick. The defence went to sleep and
De Zeeuw was unmarked and headed past Hoult for the equaliser. The
game changed and Pompey started throwing everything forward in search
of an unlikely winner.
Unlikely it may have been, but it arrived four minutes later. The
substitutes combined as Berkovic played a ball over the top to LuaLua.
He looked easily offside and Clem stopped, but the former Newcastle
man was allowed to continue and he smashed the ball past Hoult.
This was a very bad result for Albion, particularly given the circumstances.
Thankfully, all the other results went our way as Norwich, Southampton,
Blackburn and Birmingham all lost, with Palace hosting Charlton
on Sunday. If next week's game wasn't big enough before today, it
is simply huge now. If we fail to beat Charlton, whose away record
is simply awful, we'll start to wonder where the next win is coming
from.
Robson's comments after the game suggest he knows where the problems
lie - poor defending and a lack of confidence in keeping the ball.
Unfortunately, confidence is only grown by winning games. Holding
on at Portsmouth would've done the trick, despite the average performance
- losing it will have a huge negative effect and the players, and
the manager, need to show what they're made of.
Marks
Russell Hoult - 4 - Is obviously not inspiring confidence in his
defence.
Neil Clement - 6 - Decent performance, did well for the first goal.
Bernt Haas - 5 - Didn't offer much, would've preferred to see Koumas.
Darren Moore - 6 - Decent display.
Darren Purse - 5 - A couple of very dodgy moments.
Riccardo Scimeca - 5 - No better than average.
Jonathan Greening - 6 - Not as influential as we expect.
Andy Johnson - 6 - OK.
Zoltan Gera - 6 - Useful on the ball at times, did OK.
Nwankwo Kanu - 7 - MOM. Tough to pick one player, but I though Kanu
kept possession well and used the ball intelligently.
Robert Earnshaw - 6 - Lively performance with limited service, good
to see his confidence high.
Thomas Gaardsoe - 5 - Didn't do much.
Artim Sakiri - 5 - Ditto.
Rob Hulse - Ditto.
Bryan Robson - 5 - Haas was a strange choice, substitutions didn't
work.
Jon Want, 4th December 2004.
|
| ^ Back to Top
|
|
