please log in to view this image I'm at the match this afternoon, for our first league game of the season. No Jamal Lowe or Dion Donohue for us, but no Danny Hylton (suspended) or Luke Berry (injured) for the Hatters either. Really hope that Kenny Jackett plays Conor Chaplin in the number 10 role behind Brett Pitman today, and Ronan Curtis on the left wing, but who knows ?!
Just noticed the attendance…. just over 19,000. What has happened at FP to enable this? Are the club hoping to raise the capacity to over 20,000 without the erection of new and bigger stands?
Followed the game on the text, and reading between the lines is appears to have been a game peppered with niggly fouls. Good to get the season off with a win. Now to improve on the away record and earn wins against those teams that over-turned PFC last year like Doncaster. Winning against the likes of Barnsley, Scunthorpe, Shrewsbury, Charlton and Sunderland will be the defining moments
Final score 1-0 to Pompey. Jamal Lowe scoring in the 16th minute, from a cross from an impressive Ronan Curtis on his debut. Also good debuts from Lee Brown, Tom Naylor, and keeper Craig MacGillivray who made a number of brilliant saves. Luton played very well and hit the woodwork twice, but we defended extremely well, and to my mind deserved the three points. They must have brought around 3,000 fans with them, out of a total of 19,018 so an excellent atmosphere. One aspect that niggles me is the amount of diving by the Luton players to con the referee and win free kicks. It went on throughout the match - they must still think they are in Division Two !! Three points, a clean sheet, and an excellent start to the season
Luton will probably be one of the tougher sides out there this season, so nice to get a win against them and start the season with a win.
Agree with what you say pdu. Conor Chaplin should have come on for Brandon Haunstrup, who whilst he is a very promising left back, to my mind, he looked somewhat out of place on the left side of midfield. Having said that, young Ronan Curtis played all over the pitch, and really looks a very exciting prospect. The way the Luton players were fouling him shows they had done their homework on both him and Jamal Lowe as being our two danger players up front.
