Reserves end with a defeat

The curtain came down on the reserve season with a 1-0 defeat against Spurs at Westleigh Park on Monday, as the unbeaten run ended and Pompey finish the season in 4th.

Below is the report from the Pompey Site...

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RESERVES END SEASON WITH DEFEAT

Pompey Reserves 0 Tottenham Hotspur Reserves 1

Pompey Reserves ended their season with defeat, going down to a first-half strike from Simon Dawkins at Westleigh Park.

The loss means that the Blues finish fourth in the Barclays Premier Reserve League South table, behind champions Aston Villa, Tottenham and Fulham.

Guy Whittingham named a youthful side with Armand Traore the only player in the squad with any first-team experience.

Lennard Sowah was forced to make a clearance off the line early in the game after Dawkins had rounded Asmir Begovic and fired in a shot.

At the other end some good work by Traore created a shooting chance for Gael Nlundulu, but the winger's effort was well saved by Ben Alnwick.

Tom Kilbey then shot inches over the crossbar as the Blues looked to put some pressure on the Tottenham defence.

But they found themselves behind on 19 minutes when Dawkins fired home from close range after some fine work by Jacques Maghoma and Yaser Kasim.

Spurs threatened to extend their advantage when Traore lost possession, but Begovic came to his team-mate's rescue by saving smartly to deny Kasim.

Pompey almost levelled, but Kilbey and Nlundulu both saw their shots blocked after the Tottenham defence had failed to deal with Traore's dangerous cross.

The Frenchman was posing plenty of problems with his probing runs down the left, one of which drew a crude challenge from Ricardo Rocha that earned the Spurs defender a yellow card.

But it was the visitors who almost scored just before the interval with Maghoma's stinging shot brilliantly saved by Begovic.

Half Time: Pompey 0 Spurs 1

Spurs opened up the Pompey defence early in the second half and Maghoma flashed a shot just past the post.

Begovic then produced a stunning save, diving at full stretch to his right to keep out Maghoma's effort from the edge of the box.

But chances were few and far between for much of the half and Pompey were struggling to create any openings.

Nlundulu did manage to work his way into a shooting opportunity 15 minutes from the end, but his strike failed to test Alnwick.

Instead it was Spurs who finished the match with a flourish and Takura Mtandari almost deceived Begovic with a cross from the left that clipped the crossbar.

Jake Livermore and Cian Hughton also went close, before Begovic denied Mtandari with another fine save at the death.

Pompey: Begovic; Mantyla, Woodford, Wilkinson, Sowah (Martin 64); Nlundulu, Pack, Cuvelier, Kilbey, Traore (Smith 46); du Chattelier (Navas Alors 46)
Subs not used: Stewart, Goddard

Tottenham: Alnwick, Hughton, Gilberto, Livermore, Rocha, Mtandari, Fraser-Allen, Maghoma, Dawkins, Kasim (Ekim 73), Hutton
Subs not used: Butcher, Smith, Nicholson, Cox

Referee: Kevin Johnson
Attendance: 320

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