Midday kick off means 4am here...if I'm up for a bathroom break I might listen...but don't count on it. Hope everyone has a good time.. lets hope for another 3pts. Look forward to your reports..
Well it was well worth the time and effort for this one BC. Right from the start Argyle played football rather than hoofball. It was a pretty even first 10 minutes broken up only by Argyle being awarded a penalty for Alessandra being brought down in the box. From where I sit there was no doubt whatsoever that it was a correct decision. Reuben smashed it home with his usual assuredness. I have to admit to being a bit worried about this tie. It being Portsmouth and it being televised. There was no need. Portsmouth did a fair bit of long ball stuff which was easily contained by our defence. We played the ball about and looked far more the footballing side. All of the team were playing well and Mellor was giving the Pompey fullback a torrid time. He seemed to go past him as if he wasn't there and it was this that set up Alessandra for his goal. Mellor got the ball out wide and took on the back by dribbling past him. Got to the corner of the 6 yard box near the line and set Alessandra up for an almost cert. 2 - 0 and all was well. We need not have worried about Bobby Reid going back to Bristol as it happens. Blizzard and his midfield co-horts all did well along with Kellett overlaping. He is a live wire if there ever was one and is capable of going box to box if allowed to run. For the third it was an action replay of Mellor going past his man and this time pulling the ball back. Rueben was on the edge of the area and gave it a clout. It riffled past thier keeper like a bullet. Brilliant goal and one of the best I've seen for a while. 3 - 0 with plenty of time for another. Argyle continued to press and Pompey continued to do the long ball most of the time. Luke was seldom called into any action and the half ended. I think the Pompey Manager put a boot up the proverbial at half time for them. Second half kicked off and Pompey went on the offensive. However, no matter how hard they tried McCormack wasn't really tested a great deal for the whole of the half. The defence came into it's own and Argyle did a bit of sitting back and letting them come on. They could have been there all day and still not scored. Argyle on the other hand had several chances that hit post and bar and they were maybe unlucky not to make it 4. In the end it was a great victory and as good as I've seen an Argyle team perform for quite some time. Man of the Match given to Mellor which was about right for me. However, there wasn't a bad performance out there. 3 subs. Smalley for Reid, Morgan for Alessandra and Harvey for Cox. Smalley did a bit of headless chicken stuff at times but was lively. Morgan only had about 5 minutes or so. Harvey looked like Harvey of the last game. He almost doesn't look interested sometimes. Seems churlish to kick a player after a 3 goal win but if he is our bench then we are thin on it. Officials got a couple of things wrong today and lino missed a few things but overall were ok. I didn't get to the gound until about 20 minutes to kick off so missed most of the pre game stuff. Heard the RM Band play a tune and the pre kick off stuff was well observed and tastefully done. I'll have to leave lyndhurst to tell you more about that if he wants to.
Amazing...actually saw it live on Al Jazeera Sports out here whilst flicking through the channels and thinking who's this team in green and white, well chuffed! Must admit Argyle played some really good football which actually compliments League 2 and now a reason to head for automatic promotion but still a way to go yet. Thought the crowd was a little quiet for the Dockyard Derby and did expect a little more of 12K or so but who cares its another 3pts in the bag! I agree Sensible that Mellor for MOTM and your post well written.
Hi ya hp. Crowd was just over 10,000 and they did make a bit of noise when you were sat amongst them. Having been let down by the greens so many times in my life I'm not going to start thinking promotion for quite a while yet. We have mostly winable matches between now and Christmas but that's on paper where football isn't played. Suffice to say things are going well at the moment.
Fantastic day, fantastic atmosphere, fantastic performance and a fantastic result. I can still find something to winge about in that all the goals were at the wrong end for me and the RM Band didn't get enough air time, but if that's all I can come up with..... Argyle outclassed Portsmouth and even though Argyle took their foot off the gas a bit in the second half, Portsmouth weren't allowed much of a sniff. Time after time they got stuck 35 yards from the Argyle goal and just got the ball bullied away from them in the end. MoM for me was Kellett. Strong for a very small lad, won balls in the air that he had no right to, quick, direct, works hard - cheque book out please Mr Brent if he's available. Still, you could have picked MoM from several and not been wrong. Although I forgot to record it, I understand the Sky commentator let the phrase "champagne football" out of his mouth and the best the Portsmouth manager could come up with was that he was pleased his side didn't buckle because otherwise it would have been 6. Long season, long way to go blahdeblahdeblah but play like that every week and.......
Many thanks for the match report sensible, saves me a job. I can come clean now and confess that I have organised the military side of this event for the last 4 seasons. It didn't go exactly to plan pre match (not our fault but probably SKY's) but for those that were there i hope you enjoyed the spectacle. From the directors box the fans tribute looked great, though not sure how many times the 'Reveille' has been drowned out by the crowd applauding. The banners and poppy mosaics (organised by the fans trusts from both teams and the indefatigable Sue Pollard) were stunning. We were outstanding in the first half; Portsmouth were poor. Second half predictable. Interesting conversations in the Board Room with JB, the Portsmouth chairman, Paul Sturrock, Tommy Tynan and a load of others that I wont bore you with-also had a chat post match with Reuben, Leiws and Marvin -interesting to get the players perspective. My MOTM was Blizzard but it could have gone to any of the starting 11. Happy Days.
I suspected you had a big hand in this lyndhurst so don't think it was that much of a secret. "Won't bore you with......" "Chat with Tommy Tynan". Go wash your mouth out that can't be boring. He is my all time favourite striker including Raferty and that other bloke people bang on about... Incidentally I agree with notdistant which is quite rare really, the RM Band at halftime was not given enough time to bang out a tune. I rely on a lift these days so hence the not there soon enough for the pre kick off stuff. Always liked an RM band above all military bands. Did I read something notdistant wrote correctly???? Brent get your cheque book out?????? I think he's been taken over by aliens.
Tommy was enjoying a pint with his son so i didn't intrude too much. The most interesting chat was with the Portsmouth chairman (who was clearly less than impressed with the performance) and Paul Sturrock who thought we should have won 5-1.-probably correct and great to see him in good health and great form. These events are always difficult to plan- Yes I would have liked to have seen 45 mins of the band of HM Royal Marines pre match plus 15 mins at half time, but there are so many bits to fit into the program/other organisations that want to take part, that the whole event inevitably becomes a compromise. I think Kellet would be a great signing and I wouldn't rule it out in the next window.... I got my crowd of 10000 which was outstanding for a lunchtime televised match-onwards and upwards.
Oh ye of little faith lyndhurst. Told you it would be that despite the television. You are an old name dropper aren't you. Pompey Chairman, Tommy and son, Paul Sturrock......(bit surprised he didn't bring his). It was a great day out except I never got my after match pint this time and it was over before normal kick off time. Somebody said to me today that when we get to the prem we will have to put up with a lot of this funny kick off times malarky. Doubt I'll see that in my lifetime now unfortunately but we still live in hope. I do like my 3pm on Saturday kick offs for football being a tad old fashioned that way.
Yes it was a bit odd being home for 3.30 and wondering what to do with the rest of Saturday....England Rugby, England football- all very dull but not much of a price to pay if we were ever to get to the premiership. I doubt I will ever see it either , but at least we are looking up rather than into the abyss.
Thanks for all your reports.. I did manage to fire up the computer for the second half around 6am. Wow..3 up already..kinda woke me up..only to drift back to sleep in a no goals half.. 3pts and moving up the table..
I remember Tommy Tynan turning up in his taxi after my mum and I had been shopping and grumpily stating "You'll have to get two taxis because I wont fit all that in my taxi" I asked him if he missed playing football and once he knew I had recognised him he became all sweetness and light and miraculously all of the shopping fitted into his taxi I'm going to be a grumpy git and ask how much longer the Argyle Angels will be performing (and I use the term loosely) at Home Park. They are shoddily dressed and their routines a tad basic. For something like that to work they have to have a wow factor and clearly they do not !
Great result and good performance by the sound of things. Wil try and find a link I a wach it ona some point.
Grumpy git doesn't describe it Mrs jools. Firstly it's a criticism of Sir Thomas and then having a pop at Angels? What is this world coming to. I don't think they should have these girls performing in the first place as it doesn't really go with football anyway and I've thought that all along. However, they are there and in my humble opinion they do their best when three quarters of the crowd could not care less if they were running about topless. It's not their fault they are misplaced. It's a bit like page three or beauty contests, they are outdated in this day and age and few people think they should exist anymore.
Here you go Mexijan if you haven't managed to find a link ! http://www1.skysports.com/watch/vid...ymouth-argyle/9565154/plymouth-3-0-portsmouth
I've been to a few NFL games and the cheerleading performances have been pretty impressive, so it can be done and when done right it can be a good part of the match-day experience. Personally I'm not bothered about their clothing or anything, I'm more interested in the spectacle of the performance. In other news, Portsmouth are ****, but I'm sure you gathered that.
Well it really was a pleasure to watch on screen and not to have to rely too heavily on others match reports. A fine performance and result, let's hope the boys in green can keep it up. Yesterday's on and off field displays were a credit to the City of Plymouth, congratulations to all concerned.
One small amendment having now seen several views of the penalty decision. It was soft. It was not a case of Alessandra going down too easily in my opinion so no cheating involved. He was clipped slightly but in his defense when he fell he tried to get up and play on. I said previously that from where I sit it looked all over a penalty decision and the Ref had a similar view to me albeit from a lot closer. I can see why he gave it.
yes it was a soft penalty sense, but a correct decision. Jools, i take take your point about the Angels but I really do wish people would stop having a go at them. They are all volunteers, train twice a week and do their best in all sorts of weather in front of a (at best) indifferent audience. No doubt if they didn't turn up we would get complaints about the lack of pre match entertainment. It would be great if we could get a couple of lads involved but I suspect they would get even more abuse. Why cant everyone just accept them for what they are, a group of young people doing something that they obviously enjoy-otherwise they wouldn't bother. They might not be great but have improved massively in recent weeks.
