Match Day Thread Pre-Season Friendly: UCD 0 Pompey 11

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Pompey kicked-off their pre-season schedule in Dublin, with an emphatic 11-0 victory at UCD.

Brett Pitman hit a hat-trick, while there were braces from Louis Dennis and Ronan Curtis, with Jamal Lowe, Gareth Evans, Joe Hancott and Ben Close also scoring against the top-flight Irish club.

Following almost two weeks of training at bases in Portsmouth and Dublin, the Blues returned to match action with less than a month until the start of the new League One campaign.

Pompey – with summer recruits James Bolton, Paul Downing, Sean Raggett, Ross McCrorie and Ellis Harrison all starting – looked bright from the off and opened their account after just 10 minutes.

Dennis looked electric in the opening half and he crossed from the right, with CURTIS doing just enough to force his header home.

And the lead was soon doubled following more good work from Dennis, who delivered from the opposite flank, leaving LOWE with plenty of time to slot past Conor Kearns.

The visitors almost added a third just seconds later, but Lowe’s effort was saved and the ball ricocheted against the bar.

That would be Kearns’ final contribution, with the keeper taken off injured and replaced between the sticks by Tom Murphy.

The lead was increased midway through the half, however, as DENNIS latched on to Lee Brown’s quickly taken free-kick and bent a shot around the new stopper.

CURTIS then got his second of the evening on 39 minutes when Harrison’s cross evaded its intended target of Dennis.

Instead it fell for the Republic of Ireland international, who chested the ball down and emphatically found the net.

There was an almost instant fifth goal, as DENNIS rounded off an impressive first half display by receiving Harrison’s pass, spinning past the last defender and coolly finishing.

Half Time: UCD 0 Pompey 5

Jackett changed his entire team at the break, but that did not stop the goals from flowing in the second half.

EVANS became the fourth different scorer of the contest, with a blocked pass bouncing back to him and a powerful shot striking the underside of the crossbar before finding the net.

PITMAN then got his first on the hour mark, capitalising on some slack defending to take a touch and find the target from close range.

He might have earlier scored in more acrobatic fashion, but a scorpion-style attempt narrowly cleared the bar.

Murphy was being continually called into action, getting down low to save first from Anton Walkes and then deny Evans at the near post.

But an eighth goal did arrive, with PITMAN picking the defence’s pocket following an Evans cross to double his personal tally.

Teenage full-back HANCOTT – playing a more advanced role – was next to score, being quickest to react when Pitman was denied by Murphy.

The travelling Blues fans wanted 10 and skipper PITMAN duly obliged by completing a 20-minute treble.

Aaron McGrath took too much time over clearing the ball, allowing the striker to steal possession and bend it around Murphy.

The scoring was finally complete six minutes from the end, with UCD unable to clear under pressure and CLOSE emphatically finishing.

Pompey’s run of friendlies continues at Westleigh Park on Saturday when they take on neighbours Havant & Waterlooville (3pm kick-off).

UCD: Kearns; Tobin, Farrell, McEvoy, McClelland; Doyle (c), Keaney; O’Farrell, Kinsella-Bishop; Dignam; Mahdy
Subs: Murphy, Griffin, Mullen, Akinsete, Daly, Ring, Ryan, Boore, Keane, Smith, McGrath

Pompey: MacGillivray (Bass 46); Bolton (Walkes 46), Downing (Burgess 46), Raggett (Casey 46), Brown (Haunstrup 46); Naylor (c) (Morris 46), McCrorie (Close 46); Lowe (Evans 46), Dennis (Cannon 46), Curtis (Hancott 46); Harrison (Pitman 46)
Goals: Curtis 10, 39, Lowe 16, Dennis 24, 41, Evans 49, Pitman 60, 76, 80, Hancott 78, Close 84

Referee: David Dunne

 

Match Highlights:-

http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/992307917?-11209:804