Match Day Thread versus Portsmouth

It's good that Portsmouth have a cup final game to look forward to again this season............

Not a lot to say about this one is there. Always competitive or rather normally competitive. They are in decent form and we are in decent form.




COYG

 

Portsmouth have an excellent away record....only losing once.....but their home record is very average...losing as many as they have won.....so we've got a chance of getting at least a draw.

 

Christ plym stop being so bleddy negative. We have as much chance of winning as well. I'd hate to hear your dressing room pep talk.

 

I'm trying not to put the mockers on us by being too optimistic....because we know that Argyle can play like Barcelona in the first half and then turn into your local Rec team in the second half.....so when we win it's even better.......

 

Cooper, Watts, Opoku, Aimson, Fornah, Grant, Camara, Mayor, Moore, Hardie, Jephcott.

Subs
McCormick, Reeves, Lolos, Ennis, Lewis, Woods, Law.

 

Glad to see Danny Mayor in the side, he took a bit of a battering against Accrington. No Joe Edwards though, that is a shame, he's been playing well.

 

0-0...H/T....Argyle holding there own...although Portsmouth have had eleven corners so far.

 

2-2...F/T

Curtis...86mins.....Bolton...87mins

Jephcott...70mins...82mins.

Defence played brilliantly...until the 86th minute and then self distructed for a stupid goal...I might say too much....I'll say no more.

 

Unbelievable and had such a positive few weeks etc. New defence asap if only the youngsters!

 

Let's get the cliché out of the way. We'd all of settled for a draw before the game. When you are 0-2 up with 10 minutes to go, no you wouldn't.

I had a go at Kelland Watts last week for leaving Danny Mayor to deal with a cross. When you are 0-2 up with 10 to play and you are being chased back towards your own goal, what do you do? You put it out for a throw in, that's what you do.

Great performance, should have had all 3 points.

 

I would have taken a draw before the game....but after the game it felt more like a defeat.

 

And you could see that on the players faces.

 

I didn't see that....I'd already turned it off.....and for my troubles I then watched Scoland win at Twickenham for the first time in generations.....I'm now depressed.

 

For the first 15/20 minutes aided by a Ref that clearly didn't know which pocket he had his cards in Portsmouth tried to foul their way to supremacy. Obviously that's the way they play to intimidate. They kind of succeeded because they then had the next half hour. They had so many corners because of our decent defending from them for once. I don't think the number shows any sort of dominance at all. Second half was more even and we got the run of the ball and bingo it's 1 - 0. Jephcott who had hardly touched the ball on hand in the right place to stroke it in. Great break away for the second and Ennis did well. Again Jephcott doing what Jephcott does and was in the right place to ............ stroke it home of course. That should have been it but then Watts for some inexplicable reason decided to not put his boot through the ball and allowed them to keep it in. Schoolboy error and if it had not been for that I don't think they would have scored all day. Heads dropped a bit and Pompey tails were up and the final score says the rest. 2 points gifted by us and Portsmouth should be grateful. Still they have to have their cup final once a season so they should be happy.

 

The frustrating thing is that we're looking so good now. The last few teams we've played have frankly looked like carthorses compared to us. We're scything through them in attack and yesterday Portsmouth had a run of 5 successive corners. Not so long ago, that would have meant 3 goals conceded.

We haven't seen him start, but Ennis looks every inch like Premier League class. How on earth did we sign him? He works hard, he's quick and having played only 30 minutes, he has a goal, an assist, and a half-assist for that sumptuous little back heel that allowed Mayor to put him in to score his goal. His pass for Jephcott's second was slide-rule accurate. You can see him looking across as he's running with the ball and squeezes it between the post and the defender and the keeper for Jephcott to score.

Not so long ago I was frustrated because silly errors were losing us matches. Now I'm frustrated because silly errors are stopping us winning matches and getting us to the play offs where this team belongs.

 

Was just waiting for it to happen, they never, never learn!

 

In the light of day after the disappointment of not winning... after being 2-0 up with only 5 mins to go was a body blow....but of course an away point would have been acceptable at kick off time in other circumstances.

The defence played well riding their luck at times....which all teams need to get results.....so it was a shame that Kell Watts showed his lack of experience when trying to hold off an attacker... allowing the ball to be hooked away from him inches before going out for a goal kick......give Curtis credit...he still had work to do to get a good enough angle to score.....for them to score again within a minute or so...just shows the desperate need we have of more experience and leadership at such moments. A few weeks back we would never have been able to survive so many corner kicks....but we did with our share of luck manage it.

I don't think we have quite worked out how and who should be protecting the defence....Fornah at times does a good job...but because of little experience he doesn't always get it right.....Reeve is probably better coming forward...but defensively not so good.

Jephcott and Hardie did well with little support at times....Jephcott showed us again his ability to be in the right place when it really matters......I would like to see how Ennis would do starting with Jephcott....he does seem to get well involved when on the pitch....maybe unfair on Hardie...but it is worth trying.

I hope Watts can get over his mistake quickly....such small moments can make or break a player and a result.....at 2-0 up you couldn't see any other result than a Argyle win.....we do need a organizer showing his experience at those tense moments when the opposition get back into a game.

Surprised how Northampton came away from Accrington with a 0-0 draw....we'll accept the same please on Tuesday.

 

I drew my inspiration from your write up Wooperts.

In the first couple of minutes one of the Pompey players pulled Mayor back when he glided past him. That is a yellow card in anyone's book. No attempt to tackle just broke up a possible attack. After that there were several "meaty" challenges that got overlooked. Biased homer of a Ref. We gave them a goal to kick start their game. I put it down to the effects finally kicking in from the headbutt in the first 2 minutes. Unless they improove greatly we will be giving Pompey their cup final again next season. Football is all about opinions isn't it.