2012 Ends In Another Defeat

Last updated : 29 December 2012 By Jim Bonner

Pompey fans will be glad to see the back of a difficult 2012 after the year ended in another defeat at the hands of Yeovil Town.

This match summed up Pompey's entire season in the extreme following possibly the worst first half of football ever seen at Fratton Park followed by an absolute bombardment of Yeovil's goal in the second half.

Portsmouth fans were disappointed to see Brian Howard's name on the team sheet once again although Liam Walker finally started a match, albeit on the flanks.

Despite a bright start in the first five minutes, the nerves seemed to creep into Pompey's play with Simon Eastwood being let off after his throw went straight to Gavin Williams but his attempted lob sailed over the bar.

That seemed to give the visitors hope and they took the lead following some dreadful defending from a free kick. Dominic Blizzard's tame shot somehow eluded Eastwood and the three nearby Pompey players as the ball crept into the far corner of the net.

The crowd became extremely frustrated with the passing and perceived lack of effort from the Pompey players and that frustration turned to anger when the Glovers doubled their lead.

More terrible defending from a free kick allowed Byron Webster to take a shot that deflected past Eastwood with no Pompey defenders anywhere near the ball.

Boos greeted the half-time whistle as the crowd sang "What the fucking hell was that!?" as the Portsmouth players trudged off the pitch having subjected the fans to a dismal performance. Something had to change.

Thankfully, Guy Whittingham did change things as Howard and McLeod were replaced with Scott Allan and Ashley Harris.

Straight from the restart there was a renewed vigour about this Pompey team who relentlessly attacked Yeovil's goal in the second half.

Some hard work from Walker meant he could latch onto Adam Webster's cross and square the ball across goal to give Paul Benson an easy tap in.

In the space of 15 minutes the crowd had turned from nasty into encouraging and although Yeovil had chances on the break, Pompey dominated the second half looking for an equaliser.

Unfortunately it didn't come despite the effort. Benson smashed the post and then late in the game Lubomir Michalik hit the crossbar with his header and the loose ball fell for Darel Russell who fired wide when he should have scored.

The final whistle blew and despite the result, the team were applauded off for their effort in the second half. Unfortunately the damage had been done in the first.

To take the positives from this game, I felt entertained for the first time in a long time and left Fratton Park thinking that the football will be worth watching if the management sticks with that team and that kind of attitude from now on.

Sure, we're virtually relegated to League Two anyway but we can go down fighting whilst playing some entertaining football as we saw in the second half today and that would be good enough for me.

I enjoyed watching Liam Walker show the rest of the midfield how to pass the ball and his link up play with Dumbuya and Williamson showed that he has a place in this Pompey team.

Dumbuya was a threat in the second half whilst Williamson also fared much better when playing in his preferred central midfield role. The arrivals of Allan and Harris injected some much needed energy into the performance and it was good to watch.

I sincerely hope that Guy and Andy stick with the side that finished this game for the trip to Swindon, although finding someone to play centre forward will be difficult as Benson can't play against his parent club and McLeod is banned after getting yet another booking for dissent.

But the main thing is that this terrible year, arguably the worst in the club's history, has finally come to an end. 2013 is sure to bring more pain to begin with but hopefully we'll turn things around slowly but surely.

Pompey Player Ratings

Simon Eastwood: 5 - Didn't cover himself with glory.

Mustapha Dumbuya: 6 - A threat going forward.

Ricardo Rocha: 6 - Made some last ditch challenges.

Lubomir Michalik: 5 - Slow to react in the first half.

Adam Webster: 4 - Made mistakes and kept giving the ball away.

Lee Williamson: 6 - Much better when moved into the centre.

Brian Howard: 5 - Yet another poor showing.

Darel Russell: 5 - Should have scored.

Liam Walker: 6 - Lightweight but the best passer we've got by a mile.

Izale McLeod: 4 - Lazy, didn't win anything and got needlessly booked.

Paul Benson: 7 - Posed a threat and worked very hard.

Substitutes

Phil Smith

Johnny Ertl (Rocha 65): 6 - Did his job.

Jed Wallace

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing

Scott Allan (Howard 46): 7 - Injected some much needed energy into the side.

Ashley Harris (McLeod 46): 7 - Full of running and the odd trick or two.