MATCHWATCH : Portsmouth (a)

[AthleticoSpizz]

Big ✔️ For the Ships Anson, been there done that…as is the Old Custom House etc

Just the Newcome Arms today tho’

[Stranded]

Ah we lost, no major concern.

There were key moments that went against us in the 1st half.

First, Kelvin gets to the keeper and the ball but his poke hits the keepers heel & stays with him. Luck for them else 1-0 for us.

Second, should have been a red. Honest think the fact we broke meant he rightly played advantage & then felt he couldn't send him off so went with yellow. Should have been red.

Thirdly their opening goal, shot was deflected of Yiadom's boot, changed the direction of the ball & that's what beat Button. He'll be gutted it still beat him but no deflection, no goal and we head in 0-0.

Heads went down as we hadn't taken chances and we tried to play too quickly 2nd half, made 2 mistakes, Mola over committing & Kelvin's tripping over trying to take a quick FK to kill the game off.

[The Cap]

ftr - ship anson, old custom house, still & west, bridge tavern, wellington (twice), sally port, dolphin, pembroke & home via one of the more life affirming kebab trips ever. Portsmouth is a great away sesh.

The game - 30 minutes of liquid football, then that. Could have been 3-3. That's why they are top. We did't give up, so I think its a teaching point. Selles knows the score wit the fans. Good lad.

Nice work stealth. The Anson's a well known haunt just o/side the dockyard and then you've made it over to Old Pompey. Regardless of footie allegiances, the views from the Still & West are superb. And as for the Pembroke, proper old school community boozer. Sounds as though your beverage tour was well thought out. In terms of historical interest, there are tunnels that run between the boozers over Old Pompey, so that when the press gangs used to go round the pubs, the quick witted ones would lift the hatches and disappear. And not a lot of people know that

[windermereROYAL]

What a really likable fan base they have down there, naturally we always get a bit of flak when we lose, but nothing anywhere near this, it`s off the scale.

[stealthpapes]

ftr - ship anson, old custom house, still & west, bridge tavern, wellington (twice), sally port, dolphin, pembroke & home via one of the more life affirming kebab trips ever. Portsmouth is a great away sesh.

The game - 30 minutes of liquid football, then that. Could have been 3-3. That's why they are top. We did't give up, so I think its a teaching point. Selles knows the score wit the fans. Good lad.

Nice work stealth. The Anson's a well known haunt just o/side the dockyard and then you've made it over to Old Pompey. Regardless of footie allegiances, the views from the Still & West are superb. And as for the Pembroke, proper old school community boozer. Sounds as though your beverage tour was well thought out. In terms of historical interest, there are tunnels that run between the boozers over Old Pompey, so that when the press gangs used to go round the pubs, the quick witted ones would lift the hatches and disappear. And not a lot of people know that

cheers, and lovely historical nugget, appreciated.

[Clyde1998]

Ah we lost, no major concern.

There were key moments that went against us in the 1st half.

First, Kelvin gets to the keeper and the ball but his poke hits the keepers heel & stays with him. Luck for them else 1-0 for us.

Second, should have been a red. Honest think the fact we broke meant he rightly played advantage & then felt he couldn't send him off so went with yellow. Should have been red.

Thirdly their opening goal, shot was deflected of Yiadom's boot, changed the direction of the ball & that's what beat Button. He'll be gutted it still beat him but no deflection, no goal and we head in 0-0.

Heads went down as we hadn't taken chances and we tried to play too quickly 2nd half, made 2 mistakes, Mola over committing & Kelvin's tripping over trying to take a quick FK to kill the game off.

We also should've gone 1-0 up when Mukairu flicked over from six yards out.

I don't know if anyone's seen the penalty claim back - whether it was handball or not? I agree that challenge on Ehib(?) should've been a red card; almost seems to elbow him in the face.

On the goals:

1. I'm not sure it did get a deflection, but swerved awkwardly away from Button.
2. They got into the box far too easily. Their man wasn't being closed down and got past Mbengue far too easily. Great finish, but was far too simple. In the build up, their winger got past Mola too easily on the halfway line.
3. Kelvin tries to take a quick free kick, but we just needed to slow the game down and regroup - we just needed to settle. It came at a time when Portsmouth were on top and growing in confidence. Another great finish, but again was allowed to get the shot away too easily.
4. Button should've been holding on to that cross. Another good finish to sneak the ball into the near post first time.

In the second half, Wing hitting the bar from the free-kick and Smith forcing their keeper into a good save when one-on-one. We eventually got a goal we deserved, but the game was long gone at that point.

I'm not overly concerned. Portsmouth are top of the league and we had enough chances to get something from that game. A side that's top of a league will typically take their chances when they come - which is what happened yesterday. We just have to pick ourselves up at beat Port Vale on Tuesday.

[TiagoIlori]

One of their fans decided to use a homophobic slur to describe one Reading fan, they’re quite keen to tell us that it’s only a minority. Funny that.

[Snowflake Royal]

One of their fans decided to use a homophobic slur to describe one Reading fan, they’re quite keen to tell us that it’s only a minority. Funny that.

Given we recently had a 'fan' use a racist slur, I wouldn’t be too quick to tar them all with the same brush, because that shit works both ways.

[TiagoIlori]

One of their fans decided to use a homophobic slur to describe one Reading fan, they’re quite keen to tell us that it’s only a minority. Funny that.

Given we recently had a 'fan' use a racist slur, I wouldn’t be too quick to tar them all with the same brush, because that shit works both ways.

They all painted us under the same brush for that one as well. The exact point I was trying to make was as to why you don’t paint everyone with the same brush.

[Snowflake Royal]

One of their fans decided to use a homophobic slur to describe one Reading fan, they’re quite keen to tell us that it’s only a minority. Funny that.

Given we recently had a 'fan' use a racist slur, I wouldn’t be too quick to tar them all with the same brush, because that shit works both ways.

They all painted us under the same brush for that one as well. The exact point I was trying to make was as to why you don’t paint everyone with the same brush.

Righto, as you were then! Clearly missing some context.

[Clyde1998]

Interesting* to note that yesterday (20,113) was Portsmouth's highest attendance since 6 March 2010 against Birmingham in the FA Cup (20,456) and highest for a league game since 30 December 2009 against Arsenal (20,404)!

[Millsy]

Interesting* to note that yesterday (20,113) was Portsmouth's highest attendance since 6 March 2010 against Birmingham in the FA Cup (20,456) and highest for a league game since 30 December 2009 against Arsenal (20,404)!

Of course, finding ourselves in this league, playing a massive club like Reading is like a World Cup final for most of these League One clubs.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Interesting* to note that yesterday (20,113) was Portsmouth's highest attendance since 6 March 2010 against Birmingham in the FA Cup (20,456) and highest for a league game since 30 December 2009 against Arsenal (20,404)!

Of course, finding ourselves in this league, playing a massive club like Reading is like a World Cup final for most of these League One clubs.

Tbf, wasn't it just because they have recently finished a redevelopment and so they had a bigger capacity? They're top of the league after a horror decade, of course they're going to sell out.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Don’t know if it’s a contributory factor, but they have safe-standing emplaced in both the Reading end, and in the top half of the stand opposite….seems to work well.

[Clyde1998]

Interesting* to note that yesterday (20,113) was Portsmouth's highest attendance since 6 March 2010 against Birmingham in the FA Cup (20,456) and highest for a league game since 30 December 2009 against Arsenal (20,404)!

Of course, finding ourselves in this league, playing a massive club like Reading is like a World Cup final for most of these League One clubs.

Tbf, wasn't it just because they have recently finished a redevelopment and so they had a bigger capacity? They're top of the league after a horror decade, of course they're going to sell out.

They've had a capacity to get over 20,000 for matches - as they exceeded it in the Premier League.

Some of it will be the away following - we're one of three teams so far to take a full allocation to Portsmouth (along with Charlton and Bristol Rovers); Charlton got slightly more tickets than us and Bristol Rovers. There won't be too many sides in the bottom two divisions who'll take 2,000 to Portsmouth. They've still got to play Derby and Oxford - who'll likely take decent numbers there.

I know they've been limited in the past couple of seasons due to the work they've been doing, but would've thought they would've had 20,100+ at least once since they were in the Premier League. I think the next highest in that time was 20,040 against Leeds in 2011. I know they've played Southampton a few times since then, but it's likely the capacity is restricted due to increased need for segregation.

[Zammo]

Top day out, despite the result. Train from Reading to Fratton (via Basingstoke) . Arrived about Midday. Got a tip off to visit this place https://www.staggeringlygood.com/, which is a Brewery Tap Room just behind Fratton Park. Made more than welcome. Home fans were chatty and good natured in there.

Game itself, we were excellent first half. Kept the crowd quiet until their deflected opener. Even at 3nil/4nil we kept going. Loved the scenes at the end when the players came over with Reuben. How different from Orient away was that.

[kieran]

Of course, finding ourselves in this league, playing a massive club like Reading is like a World Cup final for most of these League One clubs.

Tbf, wasn't it just because they have recently finished a redevelopment and so they had a bigger capacity? They're top of the league after a horror decade, of course they're going to sell out.

They've had a capacity to get over 20,000 for matches - as they exceeded it in the Premier League.

Some of it will be the away following - we're one of three teams so far to take a full allocation to Portsmouth (along with Charlton and Bristol Rovers); Charlton got slightly more tickets than us and Bristol Rovers. There won't be too many sides in the bottom two divisions who'll take 2,000 to Portsmouth. They've still got to play Derby and Oxford - who'll likely take decent numbers there.

I know they've been limited in the past couple of seasons due to the work they've been doing, but would've thought they would've had 20,100+ at least once since they were in the Premier League. I think the next highest in that time was 20,040 against Leeds in 2011. I know they've played Southampton a few times since then, but it's likely the capacity is restricted due to increased need for segregation.

I can clear this up.

Saturday was the first match where we have been able to use the entire newly refurbished milton end since it was restricted capacity due to safety reasons in 2012. This was announced in the stadium as our owners where at the game (they come from LA). It was a remarkable moment as it marked the first game where capacity has been at 21200k with enough away fans to actually utilise some of it. Quite a milestone following years of neglect, worthy of celebration. As I am sure you are aware home sell outs are most weeks and have been most weeks for the last 12 years in these lower divisions. Expect any game between now and the end of the season with a decent away following to match/surpass this.

Next step is a new north stand that will further increase capacity by circa 8k.

I hope you manage to find yourselves owners as decent as ours.

[Dirk Gently]

I hope you manage to find yourselves owners as decent as ours.

You had the best owner it was possible to have, after so much hard work and dedication from so many fans - and then you voted to sell to an outsider.

I find that decision absolutely astounding and so very short-sighted.

[kieran]

I hope you manage to find yourselves owners as decent as ours.

You had the best owner it was possible to have, after so much hard work and dedication from so many fans - and then you voted to sell to an outsider.

I find that decision absolutely astounding and so very short-sighted.

We had no future as fan owned. FP was falling apart, we couldnt finance a decent squad. The numbers just dont add up. We wouldnt have just sold to anyone, they had to be particularly trust worthy

[Whore Jackie]

Buttons worst game in a Reading shirt. I think he was at fault for the first and 4th goals

Well, he's built up quite the portfolio of poor games, but I think he was even worse away at Northampton. Lumley wasn't brilliant, but he's just streets ahead of Button. We've had some brilliant keepers, some alright and a few shockers, and he's definitely in the last category. Biggest transfer mistake this season IMHO.

Top day out, despite the result. Train from Reading to Fratton (via Basingstoke) . Arrived about Midday. Got a tip off to visit this place https://www.staggeringlygood.com/, which is a Brewery Tap Room just behind Fratton Park. Made more than welcome. Home fans were chatty and good natured in there.

Also went there. Cracking pre-match venue, absolutely rammed. Must have been well over 300 people in there. Will definitely visit again. Went to a few central ones near Portsmouth & Southsea, that were reasonable, and then ended up the night in the Hole in the Wall, halfway between the centre and Southsea. Really lovely pub.