Smash 'n' Grab

Last updated : 08 December 2007 By Jim Bonner
We rode our luck, didn't play well for a long period of time and didn't look like a side challenging for Europe for much of the game at Villa Park today, yet we've come out comfortable winners at a ground that we haven't won at for years against a team who should challenge for Europe.

Funny how football works sometimes isn't it?

We had got a lucky break when Kranjcar's free kick was poorly cleared by Bouma and Pamarot's equally poor effort from outside the box found Benjani who was challenged by Gardner but the ball ended up in Scott Carson's net.

Villa came at us in full force after that and whilst I don't think our defending was as bad as Andy Gray was making out, it still wasn't as solid in the centre as it has been recently and Martin Laursen had two free headers from corners that he should have scored from.

We were at sixes and sevens all over the pitch, couldn't keep the ball and kept giving away silly free kicks. So it was almost unbelievable when Glen Johnson played in Sulley Muntari and he unleashed a stunning curler to put us two goals up!

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was completely stunned at this moment at time, and David James pulled off a couple of top notch saves to keep us two goals up at the break. The scoreline really flattered us as Villa had been pretty dominant in the first half.

The second half was different story as we played the sort of football that has been so successful on the road for us this season. We kept the ball better and picked Villa off on the break.

Pompey's third goal had nothing to do with counter-attacking football though, just some outstanding solo play from Sulley Muntari. The Ghanian robbed Nigel Reo-Coker of the ball in midfield, nutmegged the hapless Zat Knight and curled in another long range stunner to inexplicably give Pompey a 3-0 lead.

Villa got one back after Distin's needless challenge in the box gifted Gareth Barry a penalty that he duly converted (and should have been booked for his blatant barge on Diop afterwards). Diop should have scored himself when one of many of our counter-attacking moves carved open the Villa defence but the Senegalese man could not finish from four yards out.

The home side had a couple more chances through Berger and Agbonlahor after that but we could have scored more on the break if we'd been sharper.

It didn't matter though and Pompey laid another bogey to rest with a massive win that gives us 30 points already and that was down to a couple of outstanding performances from Glen Johnson, who had Ashley Young in his pocket all game and Sulley Muntari who made the difference with his stunning strikes.

This is our most important result of the season so far and what's more surprising is that we've taken three points at Villa Park without playing too well. Mike Riley didn't help either team by putting in another terrible refereeing performance but I don't think anyone in Blue is going to care at the moment after our sixth straight away win in the league.

The Pompey bandwagon continues to roll on the road. Next stop on the Pompey "Winning Away" tour - Anfield.

Pompey Player Ratings

David James: 8 - Made a couple of great saves.

Glen Johnson: 9 - Oustanding performance that included shutting down Villa attacks on the left and supporting Pompey counter-attacks.

Sol Campbell: 7 - Won some important headers but positional sense wasn't as good as it has been.

Sylvain Distin: 6 - Gave away a penalty but still calm and cool on the ball when we needed him to be.

Noe Pamarot: 6 - Struggled at times with Agbonlahor.

Pedro Mendes: 6 - Tidy second half after poor first.

Papa Bouba Diop: 6 - Strong in midfield as always but should have scored.

Sulley Muntari: 9 - The difference maker with two superb goals.

Niko Kranjcar: 6 - Looked lively when he got the ball.

John Utaka: 5 - Ineffective once again.

Benjani: 6 - Held the ball up well despite little service from midfield. Made some cutting runs on the right wing when Kanu arrived.

Substitutes

Asmir Begovic

Hermann Hreidarsson

Matthew Taylor: N/A - Late introduction.

David Nugent

Kanu: 5 - Did nothing noteworthy.