Pompey Win Edmonton Cup

Last updated : 22 July 2010 By Jim Bonner
Pompey defeated FC Edmonton to lift the Edmonton Cup in Alberta, Canada last night.

Chris Lemire opened the scoring for the home side after six minutes as both Jon Stewart and Tom Kilbey left the field with injuries, meaning that Steve Cotterill only has 12 fit players at his disposal at the moment.

Nadir Ciftci equalised seven minutes before half-time after poking in Matt Ritchie's cross. David Nugent had a goal disallowed in a second half that presented chances for both sides and so the game would be decided by a penalty shootout.

Liam O'Brien saved Antonio Rago's spot kick as all of Pompey's players scored theirs, meaning it was captain Marc Wilson who lifted the Edmonton Cup.

Steve Cotterill has been moaning about how being on tour has hampered his preperations for the start of the season, and it's also been difficult for most of the Pompey fans to follow too.

The game kicked off at 2:30am, a time where I imagine most Pompey fans were sleeping because they had to work the following morning. Kudos to those who stayed up to follow the game but I think the tour was a stupid idea from Andronikou, even if it was supposedly "all expenses paid".

I don't see why we couldn't have just played some local friendlies like we used to. It would have made more sense and the vast majority of Pompey fans would have been able to follow the games much easier.

There's only one more game left on the tour, against D.C United, then the lads can finally return home for a friendly against Bournemouth where I expect our lads will be supported in much greater numbers.