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| Portsmouth 2 Wolves 3 17/01/2002 |
| Match Report | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Report by Blue and Yellow Purple Wolf
Pompey had been going through a bad run of results, and after the shock of the first day of the season when they had rushed to a two-goal lead, now was the opportunity to repay them. The early play didn't follow the form book however and Portsmouth were causing us plenty of problems and didn't look like the relegation candidates that their recent form would suggest. The boy-freak and bean-pole giant Peter Crouch (the name's a joke surely) missed a good early chance when he fired a shot over the bar from inside the area. Despite Cameron having a chance when clean through, he couldn't quite dig the ball out from under his feet and so their keeper "big" Dave Beasant was able to gather. However the early stages were mostly Pompey and they got the first goal - under strange circumstances - after thirteen minutes. A cross into our box wasn't cleared properly and it fell to one of their players on the edge of the box who tried a shot which was blocked by Lescott. Unfortunately the ball cannoned off Lescott and ballooned up and squeezed into the net between the bar and Oakes' outstretched hand. It reminded me of the goal that Germany scored against England in - I believe - Italia 90, when the ball came off Paul Parker. 0-1 down and not totally against the run of play. Oh dear. Wolves grabbed an equaliser a couple of minutes later in similarly strange circumstances. A free kick to us on the edge of their box was quickly taken by Rae, but seemingly straight at Beasant. However the big man spilled the ball into the back of his own net. 1-1, and a bit of luck to balance out the bit of luck Pompey had with their goal. We then started to come back into the game, although we were certainly not dominating play. A cross in by Kennedy was headed down by Butler to Lescott whose shot seemed to be handled on the line by one of their players. The whistle went - penalty, surely? I thought. Unfortunately no, it was a free kick to them for an unseen foul. A thunderbolt shot by Rae was headed away by one of their players (a splitting headache surely), but besides that there wasn't much more action in the first half. There was burst of action in the second half that seemed to indicate that Wolves' had re-found their recent resurgent self-belief. Cameron had a wicked shot deflected for a corner after a Kennedy cross had been knocked out. Then Sturridge nicked the ball from their right back and sent in a cross which just eluded Newton who had an empty net in front of him. Then a Blake cross found Sturridge whose shot was just beaten away by Beasant. Although this wasn't quite the "awesome" whirlwind which we had seen at the beginning of the second half against Coventry, Wolves certainly looked like they had enough in them to win this one easily. Not that it was all one-way. Muscat was guilt of trying to be too clever playing about with the ball on the edge of our area, and his giving away of the ball could- and probably should- have been more costly. I'm not a huge Muscat fan and I for one will not miss him if Rangers snap him up - I will only be disappointed if he goes on a free because we could get some money for him. Another strange incident occurred when we saw a foul-throw by Camara resulting in a Portsmouth throw-in, who in turn did a foul-throw - giving the ball back to Camara - who in turn threw the ball back to one of their players - legally this time. Wolves second came from a Kennedy corner (yes JD - we scored from a corner! - Fat Stat) The ball was knocked down to Sturridge who stabbed the ball through to Blake who stretched and drilled the ball the ball in just under the bar. Yes!! 2-1 and a great goal from Blake. This was surely game over? Their defenders started flying in, giving away free kicks in dangerous positions and surely increasing their chances of getting sent off. At one point Blake was clean through after a one-two with Sturridge, but his shot was straight at Beasant. However, this was not a Wolves performance to compare with the Coventry game and Pompey started to come back into it. A few crosses were thrown into our box which were causing us a few problems. One time in particular across came off Butlers head and out for a corner, but I'm not sure he knew much about it and it could easily have gone anywhere. Pompey weren't getting it all their own way however and a good counter attack by Wolves saw a Cameroon shot well saved. Then came two incidents in quick succession which on another day could have turned the whole game. Firstly Blake had a goal disallowed for off-side for the second time in two games. He didn't look offside to me, and I've seen nothing in the replays to change my mind. Then, almost straight away after the disallowed goal, Prosinecki scored a brilliant goal with an unstoppable shot from the edge of our area which went in off the inside of the post. OK he was left with too much space but the goal was brilliantly taken in a "can't legislate for that" kind of a way - begging the question about just what is Prosinecki doing playing for these Division 1 donkeys? Ndah replaced Kennedy and I started to think that that was that, but I shouldn't be so pessimistic with bargain-signing Sturridge still on the pitch. On the right wing Sturridge played the ball to Rae, who played a cheeky ball back to Sturridge to send him clean through and he brilliantly chipped the ball over the out-rushing Beasant. I have no idea what the strange corner flag celebration was about, but who cares? 3-2. Camara was booked for no apparent reason (being French maybe?), but that was now that. A less convincing performance than the Coventry game, but better than the FA Cup Gillingham fiasco, and enough for a win. Level on points at the top with Man City and our third straight league win. Maybe the tide has finally turned after a torrid December?
Attendance: 13,105
Goals: Wolves:Rae (15 mins), Blake (61 mins) Sturridge (84mins) Portsmouth:Quashie (11 mins), Prosinecki (78 mins)
Best Player : Sturridge (1 vote) Rae (1 vote)
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