Toast Season 4 # 12 - moving up again

Pompey`s season has reached the crossroads said SC before Fridays visit to Swansea Town sorry City. Well it looks like the lights were on green as Pompey came from the shock of going behind in the second minute to totally dominate possession in the second half. The Swans had only conceded twice at home in their nine home games and Pompey were to double that figure with goals from the Nugget and Greg 'On yer bike` Halford.

Stevie C said they had worked harder last week than on any other opponent and had spotted the Welshman had a weakness when defending dead ball situations. That would have been music to the ears of Liam Lawrence (who had to rush away straight after the game to star in Soccer AM) and he supplied the ammunition for Halford close range header.

An impressive 1,000 fans made the trip in very difficult conditions and will have enjoyed the win if not the travelling. Well done to all of them. December here we come.

Who saw Soccer AM yesterday? I thought Liam played the fool quite well especially mimicking the swooning Gillian McKeith of the jungle fame.

So after a largely disappointing November - it was though SC had won Manager of the month as the form dropped off alarmingly - for December we have Burnley, Scunthorpe and Millwall at home along with visits to Norwich and Leeds hardly simple task on paper. After that we will have played every team in the Division

Xmas

Xmas is coming - don't tell me!! A couple of years ago we ran a great special on the Pompey players party. Have a thought about some gifts you might buy the current management and players.

Carl Dickinson - a chicken`s head to prevent him running around like a headless chicken.

Jamie Ashdown - washing powder to help with the clean sheets.

Meanwhile the Club is cancelling Xmas - well some of the functions booked in the Victory Bar due to lack of numbers. Linvoy will host the usual Carol evening though in the Fratton End on 13th December from 6:30.

Vital Broadcasting

Have you had a chance to visit the new Vital Broadcasting yet? When I say new it has been open since July now and can be found here

What is it? What does it offer? It is a site discussing all aspects of football broadcasting, including commentary, TV rights and match coverage.

Vital Broadcasting's Callum Patterson has been talking to ITV football commentator Clive Tyldesley in an exclusive interview so why not take a look..here

26 November

With no Toast last week this one passed you by but I thought it was worth running today -

We all (well those there certainly would) remember how Fulham came from 4-0 down to earn a point on New Years Day 1985 but on 26 November 1983 Pompey almost managed it themselves. Oldham were the visitors to Fratton Park and romped into a 4-0 half time lead. With ten minutes left and most the crowd already well on their way home the score remained unchanged. Then Alan Biley, Neil Webb and Ernie Howe made is so close at the final whistle!

Were you one of the 11,444 there to watch? It came in a run of five home games where Pompey scored nineteen goals and conceded just the four all in that game.

That season 1983/84 was a great season for football at Fratton Park with the home side scoring forty six goals but conceding almost as many - three teams managed four, Oldham of course, Fulham (won 4-1 that season), Newcastle and Blackburn.

Was it really two years ago that Milan came to town?

The Chop

The night before Pompey`s trip to Barnsley there was only one conversation in the local pub - what is a Barnsley chop? Is it Lamb or Pork? Does it have the kidney left in? (Apologies to vegetarians for the vivid descriptions). So tell me those who made the trip - did you have a Barnsley chop?

Walk out

So Scottish refs went on strike this weekend and the Scottish Football Association brought in foreign officials to take charge of key games. After the Portuguese officials refused to break the strike other were shipped in from Malta, Luxemburg and Israel. Now wouldn`t it be nice if the Championship referees decided to follow suit and give us all a rest from one bad decision after another!

3rd round cup draw at 18:00 GMT we are number 30.

Sorry for the brevity of this weeks edition but we will be back next week with my wife Dawn telling us all about her days as a Pompey fan as she celebrates her 50th birthday.

PUP

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