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Sunderland 1 - Pompey 1

Stadium of Northerness

13/12/09

Attendance:

Pompey scrape a point

You know that Avram grant bloke? You know, not our manager, our 'director of football' bloke who does all the manager stuff without being the 'manager'. Well I reckon he has a vital quality that has been missing since Droopy dog left for North London, that quality? Luck.
Pompey have played a lot better over the last 12 months and lost these games, in fact we have played a lot better and would of lost to Burnley, but all of the sudden we have found the knack of creating little, yet squirting home an equaliser with 10 seconds left, nice quality.

Grant rang a couple of changes for this crunch fixture, in came James between the sticks, Ben Haim went back to right back in place of Finnan who sat on the bench, and Smith gave way to Kanu who earned himself a start after last weeks cameo. More surprisingly was the sight of Richard Hughes in place of Buster Boateng who had a virus.

The first half was as bad as Pompey could of been, we had as much creativity as a 2 year old with a crayon, Sunderland were allowed to do all the running and James did well after only 18 mins to keep out Jones after he swapped passes with Bent, he smothered his shot well though.
Sunderland however were not to be denied, Henderson skinned Wilson on the the right flank and his cross found Reid who squared for Bent to smash home, 1-0 and the floodgates looked like breaking.

Pompey were being contained to the odd counter-break, but Kanu was having an erratic game for him, and most of the efforts were blasts from outside the area that threatened gorner flags rather than Fulop.

The second half followed the same script as the first, Sunderland pressed, Pompey sat, although this half the defence held firmer and contained the red and white wave, Wilson mad a good block on Bent after only 2 mins of the half, and Pompey were starting to edge slightly further upfield themselves.
O'Hara had a couple of free-kicks from distance, but Fulop could save easily, and we started to force a few corners.

Kanu gave way after the hour and on came Piquionne to try and stretch a Mackem defence with pace.
Pompey's defence was strating to dominate the home side, and this was reflected in the crowd, discerning noises showing their frustration at the lack of a second goal.

Time was ticking away and Pompey were strting to enjoy the possesion as Sunderland sat back to defend their slender lead. Kaboul nearly found the opening, but Turner blocked his shot and it flew over.
The injury time board was up and Pompey had 4 extra minutes to scrape an unlikely equaliser, but Lady Luck got out her satnav and found Pompey once more, a corner found Piq, his effort was blocked, and then Kaboul stuck out an oak tree leg to poke home, a point was saved and both the away crowd went wild!

But Pompey like a bit of sweet 'n' sour, off came Kaboul's shirt, and he joined it, red carded as it was a second booking.

Still a point is a point, and with other results going against us it was a biggie.




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Star Player

Kaboul may be on another ban now, but he was immense at the back and scored once again to keep Pompey in touch.

Writer: paultsmouth Mail feedback, articles or suggestions

Date:Sunday December 13 2009

Time: 9:44AM

Your Comments

Spot on as always Paul. Janice will be a big miss in the week though.
eastneydave
Not a bad game to miss really, when do we EVER get anything at the bridge?
paultsmouth
This "luck" took him all the way, to be the one and only manager that took chelsea all the way to the champ's final. to matter of fact, the better side in the champ's final with Chelsea(with all the respect to the real lucky ********** sir ferguson). Lets put it right - He is just a very good manager, but wasn't famous before his chelsea era, that's all the story. Luck is the cream de la cream of someone that is really good and consistant.
alonrose
Just for reference, Avram is now our actual manager, his work permit was changed shortly before the Burnley game. Meaning he is, officially at least, 4 points from 6 in charge!
Battenberg
God, that was daylight robbery wasn't it? Never mind a point's a point. Was really irritated wth Janice but at the same time he really really MEANS it, doesn't he? So, Wils and Ben H in the centre at the Bridge...oh well, is this the 6 or 7 nil thumping that Merse was predicting for us on Gillette Soccer Saturday?
hammersmithblue
Very true Paul. Kaboul is not going to be missed at all. I would have taken his goal+red card and not having him in the side on Wednesday! For a moment I was annoyed at the way we were sort of playing, and I was moaning about Hart's sacking decision, but after the game I sat and reflected: The team was short on ideas, but Grant had the courage to change things around and that proved to be right. The same happened against Burnley. Grant knows when and how to make a substitution!
Pompey Malta
The way we played (badley), and the result (good) are all typical grant. Over the past year, as soon as we've conceeded i've just thought "game over". and it has been. Not this time though, I knew we could get back in, and I really don't blaim kaboul for taking off his shirt. It showed he cared.
pompeycarpet
i have said to several people, and i think on here, that i did not think we would play that well under grant - the difference is i felt he would get us results... whilst i want to be entertained i KNOW how vital it is for us to stay up this season, so needs must - relegation is not going to be as 'easy' on us as some might think, it will not be a straight forward, we can now rebuild is it?
we stole a point, but i think we have earned this luck - bring on the chelski, if we can steal anything at the bridge i would be thrilled!
pompeyrug
I'm not bothered about stealing off of anyone - we have had enough stolen off of us over the past few months.
gandor1
I read HR is at it again and taking Hart to Spurs as Youth development manager. As for being entertained, AG can get all the points he wants as far as I am concerned by playing like drying paint. Keep us up 1st, style 2nd!
Mike1954
Mike i'd say HR and Hart was a gimme...Just goes to prove how good we were!!
pentonpompey
HHEEEELLLLLL YEEEEAAAAHHH!
nodster
to be fair mike when you shell out as much money as people do, myself included, for travel and ticket costs alone for as many games as some do then i think it is only fair to expect some entertainment, that said - as i did - staying up is the most important thing so we have to do it however we can...
pompeyrug
Staying up is, if youll excuse the pun, Vital, the premier league is where the money is, thats where the investors are, so if we really want to turn the club around, that is the first obvious priority! What is happening at the club though?, why arent they letting us know that it is being sorted (if it is) and how it is being sorted, why cant they just let us know wether or not we are either in the creek or starting to get things sorted, it always seems to be smoke and mirrors, I like the idea of not letting it worry me and just get on with the games, but I think about it just about every day. We all just want to know if we are gonna be ok? Is it too much to ask?
NZ_Portsmuff
NZ_Portsmouth. I am afraid IT IS to much to ask to get any sense out of the off the field management, PS is an incompetent wozzak and the rest of them are a bunch of Clowns. Factually they don't talk to each other. So how they would even go about telling us what is going on, would be something of a major miracle. The owner has been on the same course as Lord Lucan and no one knows who or where he is. If SAF was a tarot card, he would be the King of Fools. The best solution would be to get rid of the lot of them and get a new 3rd owner/s who care about club and the best supporters in the world. But major miracles don't happen to us.
Mike1954
guys fans online and pompey fans etc have wrote to the club stating they have no confidence in the heirachy.....
ruffcider
Beggars can't be choosers I know, but maybe we deserve a bit of luck after our output at the beginning of the season. We have played absolute crap in the last two games, and would have been buried by anybody who was on top of theirs. Just goes to show football is a funny old game.
cornypomp
It is truly a bizarre situation to be in, I agree with your sentiments Mike, can things get any more F***** up for us? Im not sure
NZ_Portsmuff
NZ_Portsmouth, Oh, I am sure PS and his cronies can find a way to be even more incompetent than they already have been. Today Chelsea have said they won't wait for the £750k we owe them for the transfer of Glen Johnson, and we owe £8m in Jan. for all the other transfers we have made. PS should be fired as he has not been held accountable for anything so far. Why doesn't HR give him a job at Spurs like all the others I wonder?
Mike1954
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