The side this afternoon earned their fourth win in as many games and kept yet another clean sheet to see off a poor Pompey team. Our third successive away victory in what was quite a scrappy game gave us yet more indication that we may well have turned a corner regards our horrible form away from Eastlands. Craig Bellamy replacing Robinho was the only change to what's appearing an increasingly settled line-up.Barring a ten-minute spell in the second half in which they stretched us a bit the home side looked well off the pace and never like scoring, mustering up just the one shot on target during the ninety minutes. Frederic Piquionne worked tirelessly upfront alone but received little help from his teammates as a scuffed shot from late sub David Nugent proved their only real chance. It was by no means a masterful performance from ourselves, but we controlled the game and on another day might've had three or four.
Before Emmanual Adebayor scored what turned out to be the winning goal on the half hour we'd troubled rookie 'keeper Begovic on two or three occasions. Carlos Tevez had put a free-kick just wide, and shortly after an inswinging Barry free-kick from our right was spilled only for the Canadian to desperately scramble clear. The home side offered nothing at all at the other end. The opener itself came direct from a corner, Adebayor leaping like a salmon above his marker to meet Barry's corner with a bullet header. Two goals from set-pieces in two games, whatever will we moan about now?!?
The two other main talking points of the first half were the behaviour of Michael Brown, and a chalked-off second goal for the Blues. We all know what the player's like, he certainly has previous, and whilst his, erm, energy in midfield is possibly what Pompey need, he got away scot-free with constantly fouling our midfielders, kicking seven bells out of Barry, SWP, and more worryingly Ireland, who was hurt after a particularly bad challenge that appeared to warrant padding at the break and which almost certainly led to the player's later withdrawal.
The second goal that we scored should have definitely stood. Tevez collected the ball on the left, laid a pass into the overlapping Bellamy who provided an inch-perfect cross for Micah Richards to force home from a couple of yards out at the far post. Gareth Barry, who wasn't involved being a good couple of yards wide of the goal but who had motioned as if to finish the chance perhaps forced the linesman into his decision. I guess we just have to be thankful it didn't go on to cost us the win.
The second half was generally played in the middle third of the pitch, with us creating odd chances and Pompey having more of the ball without any end product. Adebayor showed the occasional glimpse of magic, displaying Kanu-like skills to take two markers out of the game before testing Begovic with a hard near-post effort. The home side might've threatened had their attacking players been a bit more switched-on. Joleon Lescott presented them with a good chance after playing a sloppy ball, Smith getting behind the defence but crossing into empty space. John Utaka's effort with minutes to go was until that point their best chance, cutting in on his left peg before curling a powerful shot just wide of Given's far stick. Nugent's aforementioned attempt, controlled well on his chest to flummox Zabaleta before hitting his shot into the ground should have seen them on level terms, but it would've been undeserved.
Despite not maintaining our dominance of the game through the second half we still managed to pick up three more points without really looking in too much danger. The standard of the opposition played a big part in us winning relatively comfortably, but we still did quite well in areas. The centre-halves again looked solid, Barry and Ireland coped well with a midfield three who appeared to be solely interested in kicking us, Adebayor again troubled and Bellamy put in a real shift on the left that Robinho quite probably wouldn't have. I keep using the phrase 'steady but unspectacular' but it sums up the performances well. The only concerns looking ahead would be the knocks to Ireland and Richards, the latter who limped off with what looked like a knee injury with half an hour to go.
Pompey fans ought to be quite concerned. Paul Hart's a likeable fellow and he seems to be trying to get on with the job to the best of his ability despite the circus behind the scenes (beer-bellied owners donning replica shirts and pretending to be fans should be thoroughly discouraged!), but i think he'll need at least another couple of quality additions for them to have any chance of staying up. The team appears lacking in pace and ideas and we might not have an easier away fixture this season. They were lucky to get the nil, in all honesty. If they get Utaka and Kranjcar firing then i suppose they could have an outside chance, but without a striker capable of scoring regularly, and with David James possibly on his way, i don't think the future bodes well for them.
Team:
Given, Richards (Zabaleta 60), Bridge, Toure, Lescott, Barry, SWP, Ireland (de Jong 76), Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy
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