Tom Naylor has returned to fitness to come into contention for Portsmouth's Sky Bet League One clash with Southend. The midfielder missed Pompey's FA Cup second-round win at Rochdale with a groin problem. Forward Joe Mason is also fit following a groin problem and featured as a substitute in the Checkatrade Trophy against Arsenal on Tuesday night. Midfielder Dion Donohue (hamstring) is back in training and about a week away from a return to action, but on-loan QPR winger David Wheeler (back/hamstring) is still out. Southend midfielder Timothee Dieng is a major doubt with a hamstring injury. Forward Simon Cox (knee) is also doubtful for the Shrimpers, while defender Jason Demetriou (knee) is definitely out. Southend have a host of long-term absentees, including defender Harry Kyprianou (Achilles), centre-back Harry Lennon (fractured leg) and goalkeeper Ted Smith (leg muscle). Sam Barratt, left-back Ben Coker, midfielder Lewis Gard and forward Tom Hopper are also out for extended periods. Portsmouth have lost just one of their last 20 games in League One (W14 D5), and are unbeaten in the competition since a 0-2 defeat against Gillingham at Fratton Park in October (P7 W5 D2 since). Since a run of three consecutive away victories, Southend have lost each of their last three on the road in League One, scoring just a single goal in the process - they last lost four on the bounce away from home over the Christmas and New Year period last season. Portsmouth boss Kenny Jackett has never lost a home league game against Southend as a manager (W3 D3), winning both of his last two without seeing his sides concede a goal.
Wow!! This haas been a very good week. Great to see Pompey winning at home again. Reading the BBC text, it sounded a functional win, with PFC getting the win, and then controlling the match without the need to exert themselves, to enable them to play with freshness against the League 1 big 3 - Charlton, Barnsley and Sunderland. If we get 4 points in these matches it is OK, 7 would be very good, a full house and I can see fans getting new road maps for the trips to the Championship clubs. Millwall!! How delightful!!! PS: Fans will need to update their satnavs for the trip to Southampton.
Nice and easy 2-0 home win against Sarfend, who couldn't even manage one shot on target during the entire game. They spent too much time fouling or pushing over our players. Three more points gives us 47 for the season, and another clean sheet. Both our first half goals came from superb crosses by Ronan Curtis, who was named man of the match, and gets better with every game he plays for us. The first goal looked like Oli Hawkins prodded it home at the near post, but BBC Sport seem to think that Sarfend defender Michael Turner had the last touch. The tannoy said that Oli had scored. The second goal was a truly brilliant flick header by Jamal Lowe, which went in off the far post, for his 8th goal of the season. Headers from Oli Hawkins and Matt Clarke both went close, and in the second half, I don't know how substitute Ben Close missed an absolute "sitter" from Jamal Lowe's centre. In the first half, we should have been awarded a clear penalty when a visiting player handled the ball in the area. All we got was a corner, and the player who handled wasn't even booked Today's attendance was 18,062 (incl. 726 away fans)
Match Stats:- Home Team:..... Portsmouth...... Away Team:...... Southend Possession: Home 44% Away 56% Shots: Home 11 Away 4 Shots on Target: Home 7 Away 0 Corners: Home 6 Away 6 Fouls: Home 6 Away 16
Thanks Wooperts´for an incisive summary. Now you see why a 25 million tag needs to be placed on Ronan Curtis. He is a much coveted player already.
Southend's very unhealthy looking Physiotherapist please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Great to keep piling on the points and, as Ides says, a good warm up for the 'big three' fixtures coming up!
