Happy with the draw

I’d decided that how we performed against an in form Pompey in front of 15,000 vocal home fans would tell me if at last we are genuinely moving in the right direction. We need to build on good performances and wins and not revert to displays the likes of which we saw at Accrington and Burton. A key to genuinely moving in the right direction is to become hard to score against.

We’ve now kept clean sheets in consecutive games for only the second time this campaign and over the last six games have let in just six goals; better stats than earlier in the season.

I was happy with the 0-0 and would have taken the draw beforehand. There were some sat around me though who were clearly disappointed that we didn’t give their keeper anything of note to do all afternoon. I can sympathise with that view but it just didn’t worry me on the day.

Previously having gone nine games without a win, Portsmouth came into this one with four victories and a draw from the last five, having scored nine in the last two. That makes it some achievement to have prevented them from adding to that tally and to have come away having shared the spoils.

It’s even more impressive when consideration is given to the atmosphere in which the game was played. When the Pompey Chimes were struck up it looked like the whole of Fratton End were contributing. And there was clearly a big input from the Ridgeway Stand too.

Fratton Park

Fratton Park is a classic old style football ground. It was built in 1898 and judging by the toilets I don’t think they’ve been modernised since. I love such structures but have grown to hate them too. They were never designed to have seats bolted on to fairly shallow terracing; seats that it is very difficult to fit in if one is over a certain height.

£2o for this

But such structures, whilst not providing the best of views, do lend themselves to a good old fashioned football atmosphere. Hence it attracts our away day travellers with this in mind. Unfortunately beer is usually involved and a fair number were barred from entry. As I didn’t see much of this first hand I can’t comment on any perceived rights or wrongs. I did hear mobile phone conversations informing people on the other end that “we’ve had two arrested” and “they’re not letting him in he’s drunk.”

For my part I’d had no beer and was politely searched by a steward before being allowed to proceed through the modern turnstiles. These are so out of keeping with what is inside.

I’d not been in long before an unhappy man engaged me in conversation. His annoyance arose from the fact that the stewards had wanted to search his 7 year old son. (I’m not sure whether they actually did or not). And apparently things were also getting heated outside because stewards or police were taking exception to someone filming the way drinkers were being denied entry. Surely if people are not doing anything wrong they should not worry about being caught on camera. Again I wasn’t there so should really keep quiet but it did all contribute to the pre-match build up.

Our defenders were giants

There’s no denying that we could easily have lost this game and if either side deserved all three points it wasn’t us. That we didn’t lose was down to Paul Robinson missing a first half sitter and some magnificent defending from our back line.

Ryan Clarke made two exceptional first half saves, the first in particular as he had to stretch down low very quickly. The second was more spectacular as it involved flying through the air. He also caught everything that came his way. And to think people have been knocking him.

Our keeper certainly was, thank you very much

And then there was Jake Wright. According to one social media poster, the worst player we’ve had in recent times. His performance was almost faultless. Tackles, and blocks, he did all of that and more. He won headers under great pressure and it was also noticeable that when that pressure wasn’t so great he was ensuring that the ball found a colleague. Also when required to move wider to snuff out an attack he was there too.

Johnny Mullins had a pretty fine game too and the full backs obviously also played their part, although I thought George Baldock could have positioned himself rather better. For me he should have spent much more time out wide to deny Portsmouth the open spaces they were able to attack in down their left. This meant that Alex MacDonald had to do more scurrying back and covering there than was healthy for our attacking game plan, if indeed we had one.

In central midfield Michael Collins and Josh Ruffels did the work necessary without being creative. I wouldn’t say they either won or lost the battle there but that the opposition had most of the ball and chances says something. Interestingly though BlueTag posted on Pompey FansOnline that “we failed-again (as we do most matches) to win midfield – this I where I believe our problems lay….” We football supporters are never happy are we?

The importance of strength in central midfield is something that cannot be overstated and I often think the solution to a fair few footballing ills is to throw an extra man into that area. Whilst I’m not totally dissatisfied with what we’ve got there at the moment I think it is an area where we could improve. The old more creativity please plea still applies and I’d really like to see a Roy Keane type enforcer, League Two version of course, in there too. But I doubt such a beast exists. Before anyone asks, much as I like him, no that beast is not Andy Whing.

Time for a rest?

Up front Danny Hylton wasn’t bad but is starting to look jaded and could do with a little rest. I’ve said before I’m not one for a high level of tinkering but think there may be a couple more who could do with a bit of time to recharge their batteries. Don’t make wholesale changes but if others are fresher why not bring one or two in? I’d be thinking about which of these options to go for against Morecambe: James Roberts for Hylton, Kemar Roofe for Callum O’Dowda and Danny Rose for Ruffels, although the Ruff rarely looks tired.

One player at this point in time who certainly does not look in need of a rest is Patrick Hoban. For someone who is still relatively new to all of this, his energy levels are to be wondered at. But he’s not a tall guy and on Saturday won next to nothing against better defenders than he had faced seven days earlier. As to whether he has what it takes to be our man up top in the long term, judging by comments in social media, the jury is still out. I’ll confess to swaying one way then the other.

Southampton

So that was it, homeward bound, via the Butcher’s Hook micro pub in Bitterne Park, Southampton, fairly satisfied with the day’s work done by our boys.

The Butcher’s Hook

And on the subject of Southampton there was a strange incident as we walked along Specks Lane after the game. Four blokes just in front of us were singing the praises of the Saints then one in particular briefly sung anti-Oxford and pro-Swindon stuff before turning to “Le Tissier, Le Tissier”. No one reacted, not even the police who were there in large numbers.

Tuesday night against Morecambe will be a very different experience. But more of the same resilience on the pitch please and added to that a bit of flare so that we don’t start moving backwards again.