Portsmouth Season Review 2010/2011: April

Last updated : 08 July 2012 By Jim Bonner

Going into April, Portsmouth were three points from the play-off positions but had a difficult trip to Reading first up.

Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan as Shane Long opened the scoring despite Pompey's early dominance with Kitson guilty of missing a couple of great chances against his former club.

Things went from bad to worse as Rocha was sent off for seemingly tripping up Long as he ran in on goal andreferee Kevin Friend incorrectly awarded a penalty to rub salt into Pompey's wounds with Long duly accepting the gift.

Despite pushing hard, Pompey had to settle for a 2-0 defeat which ended any optimistic promotion hopes. The season would then peter out as lowly Preston earned a 1-1 draw after Halford's header cancelled out Iain Hume's early strike.

One of the lowest points of the season soon followed that as Coventry came to a virtually silent Fratton Park on Tuesday night and left with a 3-0 win courtesy of two penalties from Marlon King either side of a goal from Gary McSheffrey.

After such a depressing drubbing, expectations weren't too high heading into the match with promotion chasing Cardiff. The fears of another poor result were realised when Seyi Olofinjana headed in an early goal as Rocha was sent off yet again for needlessly "headbutting" Jay Bothroyd.

Bothroyd would then make his own mark on the match with a goal right before half-time after Ashdown had done well to parry Craig Bellamy's header.

Peter Whittingham turned in Bellamy's cross for a third goal in the second half to secure an easy victory for the Bluebirds.

The next game was against Cardiff's local and promotion rivals Swansea City. The toothless Swans couldn't find a way past the Pompey defence as another boring, meaningless game from our point of view ended in a goalless bore draw.

The final game in April saw Pompey travel to Turf Moor to take on Burnley on Easter Monday. Nugent scored against his former club with a fierce drive into the top corner only for Chris Eagles to equalise late on with a solo effort.

With only two games remaining, Pompey's season had gone stale as the reality of having nothing to play for hit hard. May would see a torrid campaign end with a whimper.