Manchester City 3-1 Pompey: What a Game!

By: b-man | April 20th, 2008

I don’t usually say this about a game that Pompey have lost but that was 90 minutes of heaven!

Despite the fact that at times we looked awful; despite the fact that Jamo made some rediculous errors; despite the fact that Sol n Sylv looked like they’d never played together and despite the fact Benjani scored against us I would still happily watch that game again!

The first goal of the game came on 11 minutes from a David James mistake. With former England team-mate Darius Vassel capitalising on the mistake. He’s been fantastic ALL season and he visits his old stomping ground for 90 minutes and he turns back into the ‘calamity James’ we all know and hate! After a simple through ball that Sol seemed to have under control, James raced out of his penalty area like a madman.

And it got worse. Not only did he have the stupidity to come out when he shouldn’t have, he also had the audacity to try to play it around Benjani rather than just hoofing it up the field. But I’m not going to moan too much as he’s been fantastic the rest of the season, but please don’t get into your old habits Jamo!

City made it two-nil not long after when Petrov scored a deflected goal from close range.

We pulled one back around 10 minutes later when John Utaka flicked a header home from close range.

Just before the break Hermann Hreidarsson was sent off for a professional foul on Vassell. Can’t complain it was a red card offence!

On to the next issue. Sol n Sylv looked appaling today. They were aguing throughout the match about whose job it was to pick up Benjani and midfield runners etc. without ever actually coming to any sort of conclusion. The result- No-one picked anyone up the whole game!

They are usually so solid but today they were made to look like fools by former Blue Benjani. But again, they’ve been solid all season so I’ll let them off the hook.

Benjani showed just why we loved him so much at Fratton Park. He works like a mule on steroids and is always looking to run in behind yet also come short on occassions. He bullys defenders with his strength and his off the ball movement was fantastic.

He also showed his improvement this season as a finisher when he beat Sol Campbell and beat James at his near post with a good strike. This made it 3-1 to the hosts, and with Pompey down to 10 men, wrapped up the game.

Oh and I still love Benji for the way he refused to celebrate his goal out of respect. A class act.

One thing we learned today is that JD (Defoe) cannot play up front alone. It isn’t an option. He couldn’t make the runs he likes to and never looked a threat. As the game went on he looked increasingly frustrated at how little he was involved.

So in conclusion. I’m not too bothered. Of course a defeat always hurts, but when you consider it was such an entertaining game and we have the cup final to look forward to in a few weeks, the wounds really aren’t that deep.

PLAY——UP——–POMPEY