Portsmouth 2 Charlton Athletic 2
What a great game that was. End to end with both teams wanting to win.
The Addicks showed great strength of character to twice come from behind and grab a deserved draw, and could even have won it at the death. How the away end celebrated not for the first time at Fratton Park.
The first half was pretty even, both sides having long spells of pressure and chances, although Pompey had the more clear cut ones. We went in at the break trailing to a very adept finish, but saw enough to have believe that we were still very much in the game despite not being able to incorporate CBT into it.
2nd half with the stadium noise levels betraying a League One game, Pompey got their tails up but we still carried a threat and in Alfie May we have a player that can carry out that threat. After being put in by Louie Watson, May finished at an impossible angle to bring us level.
I had until that point watched the game on a plane, but we were at the gate and had to get off. In the time it took me to have a quick pee, we were back behind!
AMB, who had made some brilliant saves had a rush of the blood to the head and gave away a silly penalty. 1-2.
I was back in front of Charlton TV as the game entered injury time. Pompey’s goalie Norris spent most of that lying on the floor but he was only delaying the inevitable.
We built a spell of pressure and Edun put a deep ball into the box where sub McGrandles had dropped off his man and directed a low header in at the near post which Norris could only flap at. Cue limbs in the away end.
McGrandles celebrations were oddly muted, although he talked well after the game. Hopefully this gives him a boost as I feel he could have a part to play.
Portsmouth are a very good side, who have put some careful thought into their recruiting – players and manager. It was a great game and stellar entertainment. Quite the opposite of last weekend.
MoM: AMB was excellent despite the penalty, but I am going to give it to Lloyd Jones.
Appleton of my eye: Despite questionable selections, still owning a porous defence and often not being able to get the best out of the team for a whole game (not today), there is no denying that Appleton has upped the fitness levels and created a much more resilient group of players.
Elsewhere: Managerless Oxford won at Leyton Orient. Peterborough always have a goal in them and scored five at home to Cambridge. Bolton and Pompey are easily the best two teams we have seen this season and Wanderers beat Blackpool 1-0. Fleetwood are on the up and beat Exeter 3-0.
Looked like an impossible angle for Alfie but he is what we haven’t had for so long, a reliable goal scorer.
Great for McGrandles to get one too. I thought his reluctance to celebrate may have something to do with not being given a fair crack of the whip by the fans. He hasn’t had the best of times at the club so far, hopefully that now changes.
Finally, not wishing to take anything away from the goal scorers the goalkeeper made howlers on both but nice that an opposing goalkeeper gets beaten at his near post for once.
That match could have finished 5-0 or 0-5 or any score in between.
I generally prefer us to play teams like Portsmouth, even if they are in good form, they feel a need to attack and don’t sit back and try and grab a goal on the break and then park the bus. But their attacking intent left a few gaps which we exploited. Alfie May is well on his way to being the 20 goals a season striker we need, when he shot at that angle I thought the keeper would have it covered or that he was playing for the re-bound. The angle wasn’t great for the viewer but presumably he saw more of the goal than we could.
Conor McGrandles hasn’t had an easy time since he arrived – injuries and playing in a bigger squad have meant he’s not an automatic selection even when fit. Like many players he needs regular football and he took his goal well. I presume as Martin says above that some of the criticism he’s faced from some of our fans has maybe left him feeling a bit disgruntled so he didn’t feel like celebrating in front of our fans. He played under MA at Lincoln who should know how to get the best out of him but in any case football is a squad game these days and we need depth on the bench and in the wider squad if we are to mount a genuine promotion chase.
And it’s good that Tayo Edun is back and can play 90 minutes, Terrell Thomas has done his best at LB but that’s not his natural position. He got forward a fair bit and put in the cross for the second equaliser. Hopefully both he and Conor can go on from this match.
Overall a useful point that keeps us in sight of the play-offs. Our next league matches are Carlisle away and Cheltenham at home, on paper easier matches than the last few. We need to follow up with wins.