Pompey continued their winning start to pre-season with a comfortable 5-0 success on the road at Farnborough. Zak Swanson’s goal had given them a narrow interval lead against non-league opponents who caused a few problems of their own. But the Blues showed their attacking quality after the break, with Harry Clout, Marlon Pack, Thomas Waddingham and Josh Murphy all finding the target. John Mousinho once again chose to name a different XI in each half against National League South opposition at Cherrywood Road. Nicolas Schmid returned between the sticks for his first action of the summer, while Regan Poole initially wore the captain’s armband. Academy players Beau Mullins, Fraser Thomas and Chinedu Agu all started, with Michael Ani brought on after the break. It was Farnborough who made the brighter start and Rakish Bingham’s audacious long-range effort landed on top of the bar. Luciano D’Auria-Henry then laid the ball off for Dom Poleon, whose low shot was deflected wide of the post. But the deadlock was broken by the Blues on 14 minutes, after youngsters Thomas and Agu had combined neatly. The latter found SWANSON, who calmly took the ball around Jack Turner before depositing it into an empty net. Thomas soon threaded a pass through for fellow teenager Mullins, who was tackled just as he shaped to shoot. But Boro were still threatening themselves and Schmid did well to stand his ground when Polen tried to get past him. The hosts also looked dangerous from set-pieces, with one leading to a header for Aaron – son of Martin – Kuhl that was kept out by Pompey’s keeper. Half Time: Farnborough 0 Pompey 1 Recently turned professional Clout was one of the 11 players introduced for the second half and soon swept an effort into the arms of Turner. There was a spot of pinball at the other end as the Blues struggled to clear their lines, but the ball was eventually scrambled up the pitch. And they had a cushion just past the hour mark, with CLOUT swapping passes with Segečić before slotting past Turner. Farnborough kept pushing, only to fall further behind when PACK bent a delightful free-kick home from 25 yards. Pompey looked to continue building momentum, although Thomas Waddingham was unable to scramble the ball into the net when Connor Ogilvie nodded it back across goal. But the Australian made no mistake on 78 minutes, with WADDINGHAM drilling in a shot that struck the inside of the post on its way to finding the target. There was no stopping the Blues now and MURPHY soon got in on the act, cutting in from the left and curling home a finish from the edge of the box. The hosts might have grabbed a late consolation from a corner, but Jordan Archer got down low to make the save and preserve a clean sheet. Farnborough (3-1-4-2): Turner; Byrd, Robinson (c), Trialist G; Kuhl; D’Auria-Henry, Clifford, Trialist B, Greenwood; Bingham, Poleon Subs: Trialist J, Fried-Jones, Bradshaw, Bloomfield, Trialist A, Trialist C, Trialist D, Trialist E, Trialist F, Trialist H, Trialist I, Trialist K Pompey first half (4-1-4-1): Nico Schmid; Jordan Williams, Regan Poole (c), Conor Shaughnessy, Jacob Farrell; Zak Swanson; Paddy Lane, Fraser Thomas, Andre Dozzell, Beau Mullins; Chinedu Agu Pompey second half (4-2-3-1): Jordan Archer; Michael Ani, Hayden Matthews, Trialist, Connor Ogilvie; Marlon Pack (c), Terry Devlin; Harry Clout, Adam Segečić, Josh Murphy; Thomas Waddingham Pompey goals: Swanson 14, Clout 62, Pack 71, Waddingham 78, Murphy 82 Referee: Dean Treleaven Attendance: 2,897
