Fratton Faithful Awards 2010/2011: Results

Last updated : 29 May 2011 By Jim Bonner

Ladies and gentlemen, here are the results for the Fratton Faithful awards 2010/2011.

Player Of The Season

A closely fought contest between four of Pompey's most consistent performers this season. Joel Ward, Greg Halford and Ricardo Rocha all made an impression during the season but all fell short to one man...

WINNER: Hayden Mullins

Mullins

Whilst some players shone during parts of the season, Mullins was the only player to perform at a consistent level during the entire season. His workrate cannot be undervalued and often he singlehandedly held the midfield together once Michael Brown could no longer play.

Saying that, as Neville Dalton stated in his last column, if a player as limited as Mullins has been our best player this season then it really does indicate what sort of season our club has had.

Worst Player Of The Season

There were a few more candidates up for this award instead of the previous one. Jonathan Hogg and Danny Webber were both harshly nominated for this whilst Carl Dickinson only received one vote, and that was from me!

Aaron Mokoena and Richard Hughes were more regularly mentioned but there was one clear outstanding candidate here.

WINNER: Ibrahima Sonko

Sonko

I think to win this award so convincingly is a little harsh as Sonko did have a fair spell in the side where he showed just how good he was in the air but with that came the tendency to hoof the ball aimlessly at the first opportunity and mistime the odd challenge.

However, I suspect that Sonko was named more often than not for his knack of scoring late own goals, namely the one at Nottingham Forest which was the biggest "heads in hands" moment of the season.

Please, don't come back Sonko!

Goal Of The Season

Nugent's point-saving last minute volley against Derby got a mention as did Kitson's tap in at Norwich following a mazy run by Nugent to beat half the Canaries' team. However, there was only one clear winner here.

WINNER: Hayden Mullins vs Watford

Mullins

The last player you'd expect to come up with an absolute screamer of a goal from a good 30 yards out. The Pompey midfielder simply put his foot through the ball to hammer it past the helpless Hornets 'keeper.

Performance Of The Season

Whilst the excellent away wins at Swansea and Norwich deserve merit, there was only ever going to be one winner here.

WINNER: Portsmouth 6 Leicester City 1

Leicester

With both teams struggling at the bottom of the league and the Foxes having won at Fratton Park just three days before, Pompey fans feared the worst going into this game but couldn't be prepared for what was going to happen.

A truly outstanding attacking display after Leicester were reduced to 10 men saw Pompey run riot against their bogey team and even Michael Brown got in on the act with a sublime stoppage time goal. This was a very satisfying win that proved to be the catalyst for a superb run of results.

Worst Performance Of The Season

As expected, there were many nominees for what was the closest contest in these awards. Nine matches were named in total with the woeful displays at Preston and Barnsley receiving a significant portion of the votes whilst the terrible trips to Brighton and Palace also got a few mentions.

As for home discomforts I thought the Burnley performance was going to flat-out win this award but I was then reminded of an even worse showing that goes down as one of the worst games I have ever seen at Fratton Park.

WINNER: Portsmouth 0 Coventry City 3

Coventry

The players were on their holidays already after Championship survival had been attained and a drab atmosphere at Fratton Park was met with a performance that lacked commitment and any sort of skill as Marlon King scored twice from the spot either side of Gary McSheffrey's header in a match that absolutely nobody will want to remember.

Highlight Of The Season

The thrashing of bogey team Leicester was deeply satisfying whilst achieving Championship survival after such a shaky start to the campaign was also something to be commended but there was something more important than either of those things and that moment was the one which won this award.

WINNER: Portsmouth FC Saved

PompeyBadge2

The match away at Hull was viewed by many as Pompey's last after Andrew Andronikou announced that Sacha Gaydamak had demanded extra payment for the club up front on the night before.

Thankfully, the former Pompey owner eventually signed the papers that allowed Pompey to come out of administration and any short term doubts about the club's future were erased.

Lowlight Of The Season

There were plenty of matches that provided a low point of the season, most of which have already been named in the "worst performance" award and the whole Brown/Hughes contract fiasco also earned a few mentions.

The lack of activity during the January transfer window got people worrying but that was mainly due to the lowlight that ended up winning this award.

WINNER: No Buyer Found

Chainrai2

This is a lowlight that extends throughout the entire season and is still a major issue with the club now as CSI's takeover saga drags on. Whilst the likes of Rob Lloyd and Tom Lever were linked to a takeover of PFC, nothing ever materialised and hence the club was stuck with the most reluctant owners of a football club in the history of English football.

Comedy Moment Of The Season

There weren't too many laughs during a tough season but some of Steve Cotterill's cryptic and contradictory comments in the media suggested he should be a comedian instead of a football manager.

And whilst I enjoyed Andy O'Brien's own goals at Elland Road, it was the home match with Leeds that provided the comedy moment of the season.

WINNER: Fratton Park Floodlight Failure

Floodlight

The lights going out was amusing enough but the real humour came from the announcer doing his best to stress that the floodlight failure was NOT the club's fault.

That didn't stop the more cynical fans singing "pay the bills" as the lights went out a second time but it turned out that the outage really was due to electrical work being carried out around the area rather than Pompey's own incompetence for once.