|
Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Premier Reserve League South
Havant & Waterlooville FC
Westleigh Park, Havant, Hampshire
Tuesday 19th February 2008, 7pm
PORTSMOUTH v SPURS
(Blue/White) (All White)
4-4-2 4-4-2
1(1) 0(0)
Asmir Begovic 1 David Button
Andre Blackman 2 Chris Gunter
Lucien Aubey 3 Cian Hughton
Richard Duffy 4 Jake Livermore
Joel Ward 5 Troy
Archibald-Henville(C)
Marc Wilson(C) 6 Dorian Dervite
Andrea Motumbo 7 David Hutton
Jean Francois
Christophe 8 Daniel Rose
Danijel Subotic 9 Tomas Pekhart
Franck Songo’o 10 Simon Dawkins
Matt Richie 11 Andros Townsend
Tommy Smith 12 Oscar Jansson
Ugo Udoji 13 Takura Mtandari
Andreas Govas 14 Kyle Fraser-Allen
(11)66Mins.
Callum Reynolds 15 Joe Martin
(6)46Mins.
Paris Cowan-Hall 16 Daniel Hutchins
(4)87Mins.
Coaches:-
E.Dolan C.Allen
Scorer:-
Songo’o 36
Booked:-
Blackman 80 Rose 45+1
Songo'o 89 Archibald-Henville 67
Hughton 82
Referee:- B.Malone
Assistants:- M.Rushton, N.Lugg, M.Lucy
Attendance:- 162
It was a chilly evening with a touch of mist for our first Reserve game in over two months. It took me longer than I had expected to get to the ground, but was grateful for the ease of getting in. It was a small crowd but swelled by the Portsmouth coaching staff of Harry Redknapp, Joe Jordan and Tony Adams. Alex Inglethorpe was there for Spurs and also Chris Hughton.
Spurs lined up with Archibald-Henville and Dervite at the back with Gunter on the right and Hughton on the left. Livermore and Rose in the centre of midfield with Hutton on the right and Townsend on the left. Dawkins partnered Pekhart up front.
Spurs defended the right end in the first half and faced a spirited attack which had a French influence to it. Harry, as we know, has a habit of fielding teams with players from a variety of sources and tonight's team was no different as he had some good young players from seven countries including Aubey on loan from Lens.
Most of the play throughout was in the middle of the park, with good approach work, but a lack of final end result. there was a lack of imagination or skill. Spurs won their first corner after five minutes when Rose was tackled. Pekhart put an effort wide a couple of minutes later and it wasn’t until 25 minutes that Portsmouth’s Richie hit a clearance over the bar. Spurs had come close when Begovic hit a clearance against Townsend which looped up giving the keeper time to get back and collect.
The first real save of the night came from a Rose free kick which Begovic collected after 34 minutes. Two minutes later and Pompey took the lead when a diagonal ball from Richie was missed by Dervite in the floodlights. Songo’o played the ball behind him and cut inside to collect and hit across Button into the far corner. Townsend put his effort over after good approach play before Songo’o worked an opening, forcing Button into a good save to push his shot over. With a couple of minutes of the half remaining, Spurs came close to equalising when Archibald-Henville headed over Hutton’s corner. Rose picked up a booking in added time trying to tackle Richie.
Because Dervite was only going to play one half, Martin came on for the second half and he received a knock in his first challenge which needed some treatment. Dawkins put a chance over the bar and Christophe did the same at the other end before Allen tried to change things. He replaced Townsend with Fraser-Allen moving Hutton to the left side. Archibald-Henville was booked for two tackles in quick succession. From the free kick Wilson put the ball wide.
Portsmouth were getting stronger as the Spurs youngsters began to fade with Wilson firing over and Subotic missing the target when unmarked in the box. Blackman was booked for a foul on Dawkins and then Hughton was booked for delaying a Pompey free kick after Archibald-Henville had initially kicked the ball away. In the closing minutes Button saved from Richie before Hutchins came on for Livermore as Spurs pushed for a goal. In the flurry of crosses and corners Songo’o was booked as Portsmouth pulled players back to defend. The ref, who was a stickler for the finer points of the law, did not add on any time.
Spurs did not deserve to win this game but were unfortunate not to get a point. The lack of a proper competitive game for over two months must have been a factor in the performance as the crisp passing that is so much a part of their play was not there. Dawkins, Rose and Livermore made strong runs at the home defence but got bogged down on the edge of the area when they failed to find a pass to a player in space. Many a time they would play one-twos out of defence and then play a long ball down the channel which was easily cut out. They will have a game a week for the rest of the season starting with West Ham at Brisbane Road on Monday. There are eight games remaining in all so they will need to hit top form soon, for the run in, and hopefully with not too many injuries.
Ray
Top of page | Back to Reserve Team Fixtures Index
|
