Gosport 1-4 Pompey

We rounded off our pre-season last night with a game against Gosport. A mainly youthful Pompey side, which did contain a few 1st team players came through to win 4-1 in the end with Matt Ritchie - a local Gosport lad - scoring a hat trick and Ben Sahar the other, he also missed a penalty!

This is the match report from the Pompey Site...

PLAY UP POMPEY!

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GOSPORT 1 POMPEY 4

Matt Ritchie grabbed a hat-trick as Pompey ended their pre-season campaign with a comfortable victory against Gosport Borough at Privett Park.

The Blues side featured a mixture of youth and experience with Lauren, Arnold Mvuemba, John Utaka and Ben Sahar among the more senior stars on show.

Pompey had an excellent opportunity to take the lead after only 10 minutes when Sahar was felled in the area.

The referee appeared not to see the foul but his eagle-eyed assistant flagged. Not that it mattered. Less than 24 hours after the Blues' shoot-out misery at Wembley, Sahar's spot-kick was tipped round the post by Mark Brown.

John Utaka then went close on 18 minutes with an opportunistic long-range strike that flew inches wide.

Chances were proving to be extremely few and far between but Ritchie livened things up midway through the half with a 25-yard shot that sailed just over the crossbar.

The hosts almost broke the deadlock on 38 minutes when Tommy McCormick found Justin Bennett and, under pressure from the advancing Jamie Ashdown, the Gosport striker slid the ball narrowly wide.

Pompey went straight up the other end and their trialist forced a decent save from Brown with a free-kick on the edge of the box.

Ashdown had his first, albeit comfortable, save to make on 41 minutes, comfortably holding onto Bennett's drive.

But the Blues took the lead just before the interval when RITCHIE's shot took a wicked deflection off Andy Puckett, completely deceiving Brown as it flew into the net.

The lead lasted just a minute, however. Nathan Lynch received the ball in acres of space at the far post and had the simple task of tapping home from close range.

Half Time: Gosport 1 Pompey 1

SAHAR made up for his early penalty miss just minutes after the restart with a clinical finish after latching onto Utaka`s fine through ball.

The lead was extended further minutes later when Max Frampton could only push RITCHIE's 25-yard shot into the corner of the net.

Ritchie then had three chances to bag his hat-trick. His first shot was saved by Frampton and he then hit the loose ball against the post, before his third effort was deflected behind for a corner.

But the hat-trick did arrive on 59 minutes. Pompey`s trialist sent a brilliant cross-field ball into RITCHIE's path and the young winger coolly finished past Frampton.

There was little excitement in the latter stages as the usual host of substitutions took the sting out of the game.

Although one of those subs - John Wilson - almost pulled a goal back for Gosport late in the game but his angled drive rolled agonisingly wide.

And two of Pompey's young replacements linked up well towards the end. Gael Nlundulu found Andrea Mutombo, whose shot was just off target.

Pompey: Ashdown; Lauren (Nlundulu 85), Duffy (Reynolds 72), Traore, Cranie; Mvuemba, Christophe, Trialist, Ritchie (Mutombo 82); Utaka, Sahar (Cowan-Hall 89)
Goals: Ritchie 44, 52, 59, Sahar 49
Sub not used: O`Brien

Gosport: Brown; Jones, Puckett, Thomas, Birmingham; McCormick, Culliford, Howes, Ford; Bennett, Lynch

Goals: Lynch 45
Referee: Mark Walton
Attendance: 2,575

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