We couldn't stop the party

Last updated : 16 April 2003 By Tony Scholes

Paul Weller - back in form in midfield
We never expected this, we thought the party would have been well and truly under way by the time we got there but they inexplicably lost to Sheffield Wednesday three days earlier.

The less than over confident Burnley fans travelling down on the supporters coach were predicting anything from a 3-0 defeat up to a ‘throwing one in’ game. There was little hope from the fans that we could do anything, given our current form, to stop Pompey.

The one and only person on the coach who thought it might be a close game was a Lancashire based, and very nervous, Portsmouth fan.

Fratton Park was packed and the noise from the home fans at times reminded you of Turf Moor days long ago, the modern Turf Moor can be nothing like this for atmosphere. But at times it was subdued as the home side weren’t getting things all their own way.

In the end we couldn’t stop the party, and anything but a home win would have left us coming home somewhat fortunate, but we did make it very difficult for them and it wasn’t until 17 minutes from time that the celebrating could start.

Mind you it looked as though it could have come earlier after Fred West needlessly gave away a penalty, bringing down Svetoslav Todorov, but to the delight of the small contingent of Burnley fans in the corner Paul Merson rattled the bar with the spot kick.

But we were giving as much as we got although from a poor view point, and under less than brilliant floodlights, and in that vile yellow and black kit, it was at times difficult to see just how much progress we were making at the far end.

It was enough though to worry the home fans and we were certainly during periods in the first half getting more than our fair share of possession. And even when Portsmouth came forward they were creating precious little in the way of chances although Merson almost made amends for the penalty miss with a sublime chip from just outside the box that missed the target by inches.

They did miss a couple of decent chances, both falling to Lee Bradbury, one of them where he failed to hit the target by some distance when it looked difficult not to.

At half time we were level and we thoroughly deserved to be level, we were not throwing one in and importantly everyone was out there giving 100% for the cause, and we can ask no more than that.

As late arrivals it was only at half time that we were to learn that we had no substitute goalkeeper. Arthur had replaced the injured Briscoe at left back and Brad Maylett had rushed back from South Wales to take Marlon’s place on the bench.

In fact Maylett had come on early for an injured Papadopoulos although he himself was substituted early in the second half after failing to make any sort of impact giving Matt O’Neill another opportunity.

Having watched us defend at close quarters in the first half we looked forward to watching our forwards in the second period but we got precious little to see. Portsmouth to be fair dominated, had the bulk of the possession, and we were finding it more and more difficult to keep hold of the ball.

But we were defending well, with some good fortune at times, and the home side were not finding it at all easy to create anything other than the odd half chance.

It was beginning to look as though it was a case of trying to hold out and the only real opportunity we did get saw Gareth Taylor put a shot hopelessly wide when he should have been testing Hislop.

The longer it went, and with news that Sheffield United were winning, the more you thought the party could be further delayed. And it was then that Portsmouth scored, breaking quickly from a Burnley attack.

Some will say that our attack had ended with a foul on Ian Moore in the penalty box and we should have had a penalty. That happened right in front of the Burnley fans and from anywhere else on the ground our fans gave the answer. We did not go up for a penalty because simply there was no foul and it was NOT a penalty.

Within seconds we were facing a mountain of a task as Nigel Quashie crossed low from the left for Todorov to hit home despite the valiant efforts of Nik Michopoulos. The ground simply erupted and you sensed there was no way back.

Even Cockney Spiv Harry Redknapp appeared on the touchline, he hadn’t been seen all night. Richard Chaplow came on, replacing Arthur, and we did get forward winning a couple of corners but never once threatening the Portsmouth goal.

We shouldn’t be disappointed with this effort. OK we had only one shot on target all night and at the end of the day the result was the right one, but having witnessed some horrible efforts from the Clarets in recent weeks we were able to walk away from this one, heads held high, and say we gave it everything we had.

There were some good performances but in a midfield that saw us having to compete against Paul Merson and Tim Sherwood I thought we did ever so well and Paul Weller, back to form, wins my Man of the Match award.

Referee Brian Curson didn’t have a bad game, he got the crucial decisions right, and got his card out only three times. The first two were fair enough but he booked Todorov for over celebrating the goal. This was a promotion winning goal for goodness sake, what did Curson want him to do?

Apparently there was a pitch invasion at the end but I’m a Claret and was not interested in anyone else’s party and was out of the ground and on my way back to the coach within seconds of referee Curson blowing the final whistle. At least with the home fans still in the ground it allowed a quick getaway, something usually impossible from that ground and a return home earlier than we could have hoped.

The teams were,

Portsmouth: Shaka Hislop, Linvoy Primus, Hayden Foxe, Arjan de Zeeuw, Gianluca Festa, Steve Stone, Tim Sherwood, Paul Merson, Nigel Quashie, Lee Bradbury (Vincent Pericard 70), Svetoslav Todorov. Subs not used: Yoshi Kawaguchi, Gary O’Neill, Lassina Diabate, Kevin Harper.

Burnley: Nik Michopoulos, Dean West, Mark McGregor, Graham Branch, Arthur Gnohere (Richard Chaplow 82), Dimitri Papadopoulos (Brad Maylett 8, Matt O’Neill 53), Paul Weller, Steve Davis, Robbie Blake, Ian Moore, Gareth Taylor. Subs not used: Gordon Armstrong, Joel Pilkington.

Referee: Brian Curson (Leicestershire).