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Portsmouth travelled to Stoke knowing they were already assured of safety, but the win was enough to lift them up to 18th and to within a place and a point of Stoke.
Goalkeeper Josef Bursik was brought in as one of five Portsmouth changes for the trip to Staffordshire, but he lasted only four minutes before going off injured to be replaced by Killip.
Segecic opened the scoring in the
To say a team wanted it more has become very cliched in football, an easy retrospective analysis to say about the team that won.
But it feels relevant. Pompey fought for their lives and it was enough to beat a side that is more talented on paper.
It was a poor spectacle, with Pompey failing to reach to levels of Tuesday’s win over Ipswich.
Losing Terry Devlin and Keshi
Ipswich started the game well and had a great chance to open the scoring when Kasey McAteer was slipped in down the right and found George Hirst in the box, but his shot ended up being blocked behind for a corner.
The Blues had a brilliant effort well saved just before the half-hour mark when Millenic Ali let fly from 25 yards with a thunderous right-footed effort that had to
Saturday afternoon was by a country mile Pompey’s best win away from home all season, but also could prove to be an incredibly consequential result in the context of our fight for survival.
There is something so magical about a Portsmouth fan and academy product scoring one of the most significant winners of the campaign during his second spell at the club.
The scenes in the away end were completely
Pompey made a breakthrough after nine minutes, when a headed pass to Colby Bishop rebounded off his leg to Anderson, who took a smart touch to his left before firing his side into the lead.
The shot flew into the net via keeper Jamie Cumming, who got a hand to the effort but could not keep it out.
Pompey’s momentum was then halted when referee Josh Smith produced a straight
Saturday was the darkest day of Pompey’s season.
It left me, and I’m sure many present alongside us in the Loftus Road away end, genuinely shocked leaving the ground and heading home.
An argument you could’ve made heading into the weekend was that, although the results hadn’t been falling our way, Pompey weren’t being blown away and when losing, were usually losing by a single goal in games. On Saturday
To lose one game at home when you’ve largely dominated but can’t score is unfortunate. To lose three out of four is a very worrying pattern.
Potentially the most damning thing was Derby’s game plan. They seemed content to sit back and defend in the knowledge they could keep Pompey at bay and get a goal from a counter attack or a set-piece.
They were right. They hit the post
Portsmouth’s Championship survival prospects suffered a blow as Swansea City climbed into the top half of the table thanks to a 2-1 victory at Fratton Park.
Ethan Galbraith’s precise finish put Swansea in front and the visitors’ first-half control was rewarded with a second goal when Josh Key’s deflected drive dipped inside the far post.
Portsmouth had hit the woodwork through Jacob Brown early on, but laboured in attack until
One point and one place separated these two at kick-off, and with both still looking over their shoulder in the battle to avoid the Championship trap door this season, it was clear neither were willing to give an inch.
The hosts saw an early chance slip by when Yuki Ohashi blazed over unmarked from 10 yards, and the high-and-wide effort set the tone for most of this lunchtime fixture.
Ohashi
At this point of the season, it’s normal to have a group of players coming to the end of their contracts. It’s also common for negotiations to go on to the back burner until the end of the campaign.
This is what happened at the end of Pompey’s promotion season from League One and to a lesser extent last summer.
But it’s not the case this time around. John Mousinho