Pompey 0 West Ham 1: A VIEW FROM THE STANDS

By Sarah Woodsford and Amanda Dickinson

Even before the game Kevin Friend was certainly no friend of Pompey’s after a shocking display against Sunderland in February 2010 which earned then manager Avram Grant a FA charge and he certainly did nothing to change the opinions of Pompey fans a mere 23 months later.  There were few of us before the game who may have been dubious of our chances after finding out who was going to referee the game.

The mood before the game was a little despondent with speculation rife that Fratton favourite, Herman Hreidarsson was to join Coventry this week, rumour has it this is so we can potentially look at bringing Joe Mattock back permanently, how true this is we’re not sure, but this meant a place on the bench for newly promoted academy player Adam Webster who joined the senior squad after impressing Michael Appleton in training.  Just one change to the team from the one that started at Chelsea a week ago with Tal Ben-Haim replacing Ricardo Rocha who failed to recover in time after being taken off at Stamford Bridge.  It was also a return to Fratton Park for former fans favourite Gary O’Neil and not so favourite Papa Bouba Diop.

The game started brightly, albeit from a different end than we are used to with Pompey shooting towards the Fratton End in the first half, the superstitious among us may say this had something to do with the loss.  The ground rocked even before kick off with all 18,492 fans in full voice, credit must go to West Ham fans for being the best away support we personally have ever seen at Fratton Park, although we’re pretty sure they’ve only got one song!

Pompey should have silenced the visiting fans early on through a Greg Halford header five minutes into the game but he hit it narrowly over.  Neither side created many chances until the 22nd-minute when Ben-Haim fouled Winston Reid in the penalty area with the not-so-friendly referee pointing straight to the spot. Mark Noble stepped up to slot the ball past Stephen Henderson in the Pompey goal. 1-0 West Ham.

As always the Fratton Faithful roared Pompey on and David Norris very nearly rewarded them with a strike from outside the area only to be blocked by Joey O’Brien.

Pompey were forced into an early substitution with Aaron Mokena being replaced by fans favourite Erik Huseklepp which gave Pompey more of an attacking threat, linking up well with Liam Lawrence.  Lawrence was back to his best today after failing to shine in previous games, and his services were called upon just before half-time as Pompey were awarded three corners in the space of two minutes just before half-time, as West Ham struggled to clear the ball from their own half, the latter of which being a cheeky little one-two with Erik, you could tell they were hoping to plot something special as the Viking had a cheeky glint in his eye before he hit it, sadly nothing came of it.

Halftime: Pompey 0 v 1 West Ham

The second-half started brightly with Erik fizzing a shot from the edge of the box just wide of the goal closely followed by a cheeky 35-yarder from none other than rock solid defender, Jason Pearce.

Soon after came the controversial red card with  Norris being sent from the field of play for a two-footed tackle on Winston Reid, or at least that’s what Kevin Friend saw, whilst the rest of the ground was bemused at what actually happened Norris held his head up high and walked off to a standing ovation and chants of ‘There’s only one David Norris’. Both managers have said post-match that neither of them thought it was a sending off, so fingers crossed we can appeal against it.

The Hammers rarely looked like making it 2-0 having had numerous shots at Henderson’s goal with only three of them managing to find the target, a fact backed up by Sam Allardyce after the game, stressing the need to bring in a striker in the window – they’ve obviously realised Piquionne’s only got one goal a season in him!

Appleton made his second change on 75-minutes, with Adam Webster replacing the fatigued Halford, who later tweeted he was suffering from a virus, after warming up no less than seven times it was inevitable he was part of Appy’s plans.  The youngster showed promise and held his own as part of the back-four, not being intimidated by the likes of Nolan and Noble despite his tender age of 17, definitely one for the future.  Benjani soon followed Webster on to the pitch replacing ‘ Mr Consistent’ Hayden Mullins primarily as precaution, with Mullins already on a yellow card.

Big Sam made his only change by bringing on Henri Lansbury to thoughts of ‘oh no’ from the home fans, remembering how he got onto the score sheet when they beat us 4-3 at Upton Park back in September. Lansbury is known for his clinical finishing and perhaps big Sam thought he might kill the game off but it was not to be and straight away he conceded a free kick for an unfair challenge on Joel Ward.  The game was fizzling out towards the end with both sides having shots easily saved by the opposing keeper, even the constant threat of the machine Marko Futacs couldn’t break down the West Ham defence and saw his effort on goal narrowly clear the bar.

Five-minutes from the end and a peach of a ball was swung in from Webster with no one in the box to receive it, sadly something we have been seeing all season, maybe this should be a reason for Benjani to start ahead of Kitson against Cardiff or perhaps a fully fit Luke Varney would have made a difference?

In the final few minutes of the game and as predicted more Kevin Friend based controversy as he awarded Pompey a corner and as Liam Lawrence was running over to take it he blew the final whistle.

Cue onslaughts of ‘you’re not fit to referee’!

Final Score: Pompey 0 v West Ham 1