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Match Day Thread Pompey v Ipswich Town

Discussion in 'Portsmouth' started by Wooperts_duck, Dec 29, 2022.

  1. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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  2. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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    Pompey will look to end the calendar year on a high when they host Ipswich in the final fixture of 2022 this evening (7.45pm kick-off).

    It is arguably the toughest Fratton contest of the season for the Blues in League One against many people’s favourites for promotion.

    The Tractor Boys are certainly well placed to reach the Championship and sit second – a couple of points behind leaders Plymouth – having played half their matches.

    Goals from Freddie Ladapo, Wes Burns and Conor Chaplin secured a comfortable 3-0 home success over Oxford on Boxing Day.

    And Kieran McKenna’s side have lost just one of their past nine league fixtures, winning five of them.

    It comes after Town failed to be involved in the promotion race during any of their past three seasons since dropping into the third tier, achieving finishes of 11th, 9th and 11th.

    There have been two meetings between the teams already this term – and both of them took place in Suffolk.

    A late goal saw Ipswich win 3-2 in the league, while Pompey hit back with a 2-0 success in the Papa Johns Trophy.



    TEAM NEWS
    Pompey have a number of players currently battling a sickness bug, while Tom Lowery (hamstring) and Louis Thompson (leg) are doubts.

    Kieron Freeman (calf), Joe Rafferty (stomach) and Jayden Reid (knee) all remain sidelined for the Blues.

    Ipswich are also contending with illness in their squad and are without Dom Ball (knee), Panutche Camara (groin) and Tyreece John-Jules (hamstring).

    But former Fratton forwards Gassan Ahadme, Conor Chaplin and Marcus Harness could all feature for the visitors.




    HEAD TO HEAD
    Overall

    Pompey: 17 wins
    Ipswich: 21 wins
    13 draws

    At Fratton Park
    Pompey: 6 wins
    Ipswich: 11 wins
    7 draws



    OFFICIALS
    Referee: Sam Allison
    Assistants: Richard Morris and Adam Ricketts
    Fourth Official: Farai Hallam



    TICKETS
    Fratton Park is full to capacity for the game. The Victory Bar will be open for home fans from 5pm, while there is a DJ in the Fanzone.

    Please note that there is a reduced train service this evening and none will be running after the game. Please check before you travel.



    MATCH COVERAGE
    Supporters at home and abroad can watch the contest live by purchasing an iFollow match pass and visiting the match centre.

    Domestic iFollow subscribers can also enjoy audio commentary from Andrew Moon and Guy Whittingham as usual, but will need to purchase a match pass if they want to watch the game.

    Click here for more information about using iFollow on a matchday and click here for information on downloading the app, so you can access content on your mobile device.

    We will have updates throughout the game on Twitter and the match centre. You can also see behind-the-scenes content on our Instagram story.

    There will be post-match reaction on the website and our official YouTube channel, with highlights to follow on Friday.

    Local listeners can hear commentary by tuning in to either Express FM or BBC Radio Solent (not available online).



    BETTING
    Ipswich are the 10/11 favourites with VBET to secure all three points, while Pompey can be backed at 14/5.
     
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  3. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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  4. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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  5. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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  6. The Ides of March

    The Ides of March Well-Known Member

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    Dale again! Is he that much better than either Curtis or Hackett, either of whom.seem to contribute more and score goals? Looking.at the lineup, it looks as if Pompey are conceding possession of the ball to Ipswich and looking to counter quickly.
     
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  7. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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    Half time, and it's 1-1 after an end to end first half. Pompey took the lead in the 3rd minute, after Morsy fouled Josh Koroma. Marlon Pack scored from a superb free kick, for his first PFC goal. 8 minutes later, the Tractor Boys equalised after a free kick from Evans was put in the back of the net by Cameron Burgess.

    Burgess was booked for pulling down Owen Dale in the 16th minute.

    Talking of players being pulled down, I cannot believe that we didn't get a free kick when Marlon Pack was dragged to the ground on the edge of the box by Leif Davis. The referee didn't bat an eyelid ! <grr>
     
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  8. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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    Half Time Match Stats:-

    Home Team: Portsmouth ...........Away Team: Ipswich

    Possession:

    Home 32%
    Away 68%

    Shots:

    Home 4
    Away 5

    Shots on Target:

    Home 1
    Away 3

    Corners:

    Home 3
    Away 2

    Fouls:

    Home 5
    Away 6
     
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  9. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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    Final score 2-2. An extremely good match, with both teams playing well.

    At half time Denver Hume replaced Clark Robertson who received a knock in the first half. We took the lead on the hour, with a fine goal from top scorer Colby Bishop with his 15th goal of the season, from a headed pass by Sean Raggett.

    We held on to the lead for 27 minutes, with Conor Chaplin scoring in the 87th minute, after Josh Griffiths had spilled the ball after saving a shot.

    We used all five of our substitutes, with Ronan Curtis replacing Josh Koroma; Dane Scarlett and Ryan Tunnicliffe replacing Colby Bishop and Joe Morrell; and finally Reeco Hackett replacing Zak Swanson.

    Marlon Pack was booked for a foul in the 78th minute.
     
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  10. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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    Final Match Stats:-

    Home Team: Portsmouth .............Away Team: Ipswich

    Possession:

    Home 30%
    Away 70%

    Shots:

    Home 7
    Away 14

    Shots on Target:

    Home 2
    Away 5

    Corners:

    Home 3
    Away 3

    Fouls:

    Home 13
    Away 13
     
    #10

  11. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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    Tonight's Attendance: 18,849 (incl. 1,601 away fans)
     
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  12. Sharpe*

    Sharpe* Senior Member

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    Was sat in the lower north opposite the Ipswich fans.

    I thought we started okay and scored that wicked freekick - I can't remember the last time I saw us score one!

    From there we were fairly dire the rest of the first half with Ipswich very much on top.

    The atmosphere was again very poor with Ipswich taking the piss out of us - they were noisy tbf. Even the cheer from our goal was more relief than a roar.

    Another rubbish goal conceded. Ipswich clearly watched the MK Dons game and identified the fact we struggle against the ball in from the right.

    We had a few half decent runs without really creating anything with Ipswich very much the better team.

    Second half first 20 mins or so we were awful.

    We could not get hold of the ball and when we did we barely put a few passes together before punting it upfield to nobody.

    Long ball for Bishop just does not work - he barely won with the ball coming to him in the air.

    Ipswich were very good playing with confidence, passing the ball well and pressing and closing down our players - forcing us to go long.

    How on earth we went 2-1 up I don't know but it was very much welcome!

    That gave us something to hold on to and tbf the lads did put a shift in and we did have a bit more of the ball - and in their half.

    However we were not good enough at pressing Ipswich down and gave them huge amounts of time on the ball - this opened up opportunities for long rangers which is what happened with their goal.

    Keeper fumbled it (for about the 3rd time in the match) and our defence just watched flat footed and Ipswich had 2 or 3 players who could have scored the rebound.

    Annoying but expected - our defence is woeful to be honest and coughing up simple opportunities every game at the moment.

    Curtis I thought looked decent when he came on.

    Thanfully we didn't concede again.

    2-2 is a decent result given that the gulf between the two teams is huge.

    One club has spent big aiming to get out the league who is well organised and managed with the players clearly giving 100% in a system which they understand.

    The other is operated on a shoe-string with loan players and freebies with a team who either don't get or are unable to play how Cowley wants them to - or perhaps its Cowley at fault?

    It was very much a team pushing for promotion against one looking to stay up - or even a cup match against a team from the league above.

    I can't get over how small our team is - half of them are about 5ft. There is no height, strength or leadership in the team.

    I can't say I like any of our players to be honest with you - as negative as that sounds.

    We are miles away from being a decent team capable of competing in the Championship.

    We are going nowhere fast and that starts at the top.
     
    #12
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2022
  13. devonFRATTONiser

    devonFRATTONiser Well-Known Member
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    If you'd offered a draw before kick off I'd have taken it - I think most of us would.
    But failing to hold on to a lead is blighting our season some-what. 10 draws from 21 games is a lot of points dropped
     
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  14. SaintLapras

    SaintLapras Well-Known Member

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    What seems odd to me is that we did make a lot of signings in the summer and most people that I saw on Twitter seemed to be happy with the players and our overall transfer dealings which suggests that yes while we haven't done a Man £ity, Cowley has had a reasonable backing from the owners. Is he just really bad at identifying good players or is it a management issue?
     
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  15. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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    When they initially purchased PFC, our American owners did clearly state that they would be heavily investing in updating Fratton Park, and a new training ground. They have done both of these.

    Not much money has been invested in new player signings, it all has to be raised by sales of existing players, for example the sale of Marcus Harness to Ipswich for £750,000, with £500,000 of that money being utilised to purchase Colby Bishop from Accrington Stanley.

    We have been basically restricted to free transfer and loan signings - very "hit and miss" !

    Loan signings worked well with players like Gavin Bazunu and George Hirst, but not so well with Josh Koroma and Joe Pigott.

    How much money have we got for signings in the January transfer window ? From our various cup runs so far, it must be in the region of £350,000. Hopefully, the FA Cup match away to Spurs in early January should raise a sum in the region of £250,000, so that would give us around £600,000 in the kitty. Hope Danny Cowley spends it wisely !!
     
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  16. pompeydownunder

    pompeydownunder Well-Known Member

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    Thanks as ever for the reporting Woops. I agree that at the start of play we would have accepted the proposition of a draw. Regrettably that reflects how our ambition has dwindled. If we were pushing for promotion, we would expect to win against another top club when playing at home.
    When looking at our team individually they all appear to be of average league one standard or better. Yet the team seems to be something less than the sum of the parts. Comfortable retention of possession against the better teams seems to be beyond us. Whilst break aways may bring more goals than slow build ups possession is the best form of defense.

    I agree loan players are a double edged sword. Sometimes i think selections are slightly compromised by promises to the parent club to give the player game time. Koroma getting more game time than Curtis may be a case in point. Griffith and Dale have been reasonable but unless loan players get you promoted in the season of their loan they are a negative with regard to the longer term. We basically lost Bass because of the Griffith loan. We are unlikely to get promoted and we will not have either of them next year.

    The game made it clear that the retention, and correct use of, Chaplin and Harness would have strengthened our current line up. I thought it was always clear that Chaplin did not have the physique to be an out and out striker though his 'goal touch' made it tempting to play him as such - hence we failed to unlock his No 10 potential.

    PUP
     
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  17. Wooperts_duck

    Wooperts_duck Well-Known Member
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